WITH (NOLOCK) vs SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED

Question

Could someone give me some guidance on when I should use WITH (NOLOCK) as opposed to SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED

What are the pros/cons of each? Are there any unintended consequences you've run into using one as opposed to the other?

Answer 1

Both of them are the same thing If you are using the set transaction isolation level statement, then it will be applied to all the tables in the connection, Therefore, if you need a nolock on one or two tables use that; otherwise, use the other.