Querying NText fields returns <long text>

[samsmithnz]

Im having trouble with some ntext data in a comments field in our database. It doesnt seem to matter how I get the data, it just displays "<long text>". How do I get the real text from this field??

 

[Joe Mamma]

select Cast(MyNtextField as Varchar(8000)) MyNtextField from MyTable

 

[samsmithnz]

shoot. That doesnt work. I have a bad feeling that the data is acutally in there as "<Long Text>" and somehow the real long text is gone.

 

[Joe Mamma]

shoot. That doesnt work. I have a bad feeling that the data is acutally in there as "<Long Text>" and somehow the real long text is gone.

try

select MyNtextField from MyTable where MyNtextField like "<Long Text>"

 

[samsmithnz]

try

select MyNtextField from MyTable where MyNtextField like "<Long Text>"

So I get 16 records that say <long text>... does this mean Ive lost my data?