When creating SQL Server 2000 ETL solutions like importing of text files, it is common for developers to employ DTS packages to accomplish results quickly. The downside of this approach is that DTS packages have certain programmability limitations and don't always offer the best performance.

If you are importing very large raw text files that don't include formatting like column headers, a high-performance solution is to use BULK INSERT with format files.

For example, the format file may be named major.fmt (note the file extension .fmt) and would be placed in the same file system directory where the import source text files are located.

Here is a sample of what a format file looks like: 

8.0
4
1   SQLCHAR   0   0   "\""      0	x	SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
2   SQLCHAR   0   0   "\",\""   1	WTN	SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
3   SQLCHAR   0   0   "\",\""   2	Major	SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
4   SQLCHAR   0   0   "\"\r\n"  3	MktSeg	SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS

Look in SQL Server Books On Line to find more details about how to use format files.

Now you can perform BULK INSERTS from the source text file like this:

BULK INSERT Database_name..MajorAccount 
FROM '\\ServerName\Textfiles$\major.txt' 
WITH (FORMATFILE = '\\ServerName\Textfiles$\major.fmt')