Windows Instant File Initialization
When a file is created or grows larger, that file is initialized by dumping zeros before the file gets used. This can affect performance, especially when you are performing backups/restores, create database, etc.
SQL Server 2005 now supports Windows Instant File Initialization which skips zeroing out data pages that can reduce the time when performing the above operations.
You must run SQL Server Service account under a Windows Account and assign "SE_MANAGE_VOLUME_NAME" special privilege to that account. This privilege is assigned to the Windows Administrators group by default. If you have system admin rights on the box, you can assign this privilege by adding the Windows account to the "Perform Volume Maintenance Tasks" security policy.
Windows Instant File Initialization is currently supported on Windows XP and Windows 2003 O/S and is applicable for data files only.
I saw this feature in Kimberly Tripp's talk at Techready and noticed huge performance gain in creation of large databases. More about it at Database File Initialization .
