<p>What is the most efficient way to read the last row with SQL Server?</p>

<p>The table is indexed on a unique key -- the "bottom" key values represent the last row.</p>

You'll need some sort of uniquely identifying column in your table, like an auto-filling primary key or a datetime column (preferably the primary key). Then you can do this:
```
```
SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY unique_column DESC LIMIT 1
```
```
The
```
ORDER BY column
```
tells it to rearange the results according to that column's data, and the
```
DESC
```
tells it to reverse the results (thus putting the last one first). After that, the
```
LIMIT 1
```
tells it to only pass back one row.