What are the Disadvantages of using ON DELETE CASCADE on every foreign key?

SQL server cascade delete A foreign key with cascade delete means that if a record in the parent table is deleted, then the corresponding records in the child table will automatically be deleted. And this is the disadvantage of using ON DELETE CASCADE. Cascading deletes should not cause unexpected loss of data. If a delete requires related records to be deleted, and the user needs to know that those records are going to go away, then cascading deletes should not be used. And One reason not to : Oops!! If you accidentally delete the wrong record, then you wipe out everything that references on that record. If that record happens to be the one at the root of your entire company, then everything goes "Poof!", everybody starts creaming at you and you're into a major, high-profile, high-pressure Recovery exercise. Personally, I advocate never cascading deletes. You want to get rid of data? You need to know what you're doing! (Or some, centrally managed, piece of code needs to know how to do so on your behalf).