The field is too small to accept the amount of data you attempted to add

Error Message

This error may occur when trying to preview SQL server tables that contain fields defined as SMALLDATETIME:

"There was an error loading records. The field is too small to accept the amount of data you attempted to add. Try inserting or pasting less data."

The tables will be listed under the OLE DB connection object in the TOC, in ArcCatalog/ArcMap, but the data cannot be previewed.

Cause

This is due to a data type conversion error when making the connection to the database using either the Microsoft OLE DB provider for SQL Server, or the Microsoft OLE DB provider for ODBC drivers (and an ODBC DSN).

Solution or Workaround

• If appropriate, re-define the fields in the database table as data type DATETIME instead of SMALLDATETIME.
  
• Define a view of the table excluding the fields defined as data type SMALLDATETIME.