title: GUID: varchar(36) versus uniqueidentifier
body: <p>I'm working with a legacy database that stores GUID values as a varchar(36) data type: </p>
  
  <pre><code>CREATE TABLE T_Rows (
      RowID    VARCHAR(36) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
      RowValue INT         NOT NULL
  ) 
  
  INSERT T_Rows (RowID, RowValue) VALUES (NEWID(), 1)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I would assume that storing a GUID as a uniqueidentifier would be preferable since it's only 16 bytes in size as opposed to 36. </p>
  
  <p>Are there any advantages to storing a GUID as a varchar? </p>