Teradata block storage - response (1) by ToddAWalter

The rows in the data blocks are not sorted, they are just placed at the end of a heap of storage. The block contains an index list though which is ordered by the rowid. Likewise the blocks are not physically ordered in the cylinders, just the cylinder index entries are ordered by rowid. And the cylinders are not only not sorted but they are not necessarily physically adjacent - the master index entries are sorted. So three very small binary searches to find a row.