I am in the middle of some research regarding CHECKDB and learnt something new. From SQL Server 2014 onwards the database snapshot that is used to get to a transactionally-consistent point-in-time is no longer hidden.

To understand the behavior prior to 2014 I am going to quote Paul Randal here – he states “ As the database snapshot is hidden, there is no control over where the snapshot files are placed – in fact they are created as alternate streams of the files comprising the source database” (http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/checkdb-from-every-angle-complete-description-of-all-checkdb-stages/)

In SQL Server 2014 things have changed – it is not hidden and it doesn’t use alternate streams.

DBCC CHECKDB ('Newdb')

Checking the location where the data files reside we can see the snapshot.

This disappears once CHECKDB finishes.