Should You Use Soft Deletes in Your Database Design?

Soft Deletes: A Critical Evaluation

The effectiveness of soft deletes in database design remains a contentious issue. Unlike hard deletes, which permanently remove data, soft deletes flag records as deleted (e.g., using a field like IsDeleted = true). These records can then be restored by changing the flag to false.

Let's weigh the pros and cons:

Arguments against Soft Deletes:

• Redundancy with backups: Regular database backups render soft deletes largely unnecessary as a safeguard against accidental data loss, except perhaps for very recent data.
• Performance overhead: Queries on tables using soft deletes require an additional WHERE IsDeleted = false clause. Forgetting this clause can introduce subtle, hard-to-debug errors.
• Natural key challenges: Soft deletes are problematic for tables with natural primary keys (like Social Security Numbers). Restoring a "deleted" record requires resolving uniqueness constraints.

Situations where Soft Deletes are Justified:

• Certain scenarios, such as legal compliance or user interfaces with "undo" functionality, may necessitate soft deletes.

The decision to employ soft deletes hinges on a thorough assessment of these competing factors. In a design discussion, the proponent of soft deletes must provide a strong justification, acknowledging the potential drawbacks.

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