I'm running an append query from within Access that
appends 130,000 records into a heavily indexed SQL Server
table. It takes over four hours to complete this query. Is
there a technique to speed up this query, and why does it
take so long?

What else is going on in the SQL Server table when this operation happens?
You could check this by running Profiler in the SQL Server, but the append
query may be inserting the rows one at a time to SQL Server, and if there is
a lot of other activity on the table, the insert(s) could be getting waiting
for other data modification or select operations. The indexes in SQL Server
will have an effect on this operation as well, and depending on what
percentage of the total rows in the table 130,000 rows is, the index
statistics may need be updated after the operation.

You might want to try the same thing using a DTS package in the SQL Server
with simple copy column transformations.

--
Bob
Microsoft Consulting Services
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