SQL*Loader provides two methods for loading data:
A conventional path load executes SQL INSERT statements to populate tables in an Oracle database. A direct path load eliminates much of the Oracle database overhead by formatting Oracle data blocks and writing the data blocks directly to the database files. A direct load does not compete with other users for database resources, so it can usually load data at near disk speed.
The tables to be loaded must already exist in the database. SQL*Loader never creates tables. It loads existing tables that either already contain data or are empty.
The following privileges are required for a load:
You must have INSERT privileges on the table to be loaded.
You must have DELETE privileges on the table to be loaded, when using the REPLACE or TRUNCATE option to empty old data from the table before loading the new data in its place.
In both conventional path and direct path, you can specify a text value for a ROWID column. (This is the same text you get when you perform a SELECT ROWID FROM table_name operation.) The character string interpretation of the ROWID is converted into the ROWID type for a column in a table.