massive deletion solution

massive DELETE operation deletes millions of rows from a table with indexes and constraints. This operation is database intensive and time consuming, mainly because it forces the database to generate and save to disk significant amounts (possibly gigabytes) of redo and undo data.
You can perform massive DELETEs as bulk INSERT operations: instead of removing data you no longer need, you insert data you want to keep. The key to this option is performing it efficiently with minimum logging by using direct-path INSERT. Part 1 of this article series compares direct-path INSERT and regular INSERT. It also describes the technique of performing DELETEs as INSERTs. Part 2 will discuss the packaged APIs that implement the bulk INSERT technique.

Problem
How do I complete a massive DELETE operation in my Oracle database without having to pay the heavy performance overhead?

Solution.
Perform the massive DELETE operation as a direct-path (direct-load) INSERT (INSERT with APPEND hint) into a table whose logging parameter is set to NOLOGGING. This operation will complete significantly faster than DELETE and with minimum logging, but you have to take a backup afterwards to establish a new baseline.

Why INSERT Could Be Faster Than DELETE (or UPDATE)
Direct-path INSERT is a special database operation. Like SQL*Loader, it writes data directly to the database files, bypassing the buffer cache. It does this with minimum logging, recording only data dictionary changes. The logic behind this method is that because the data files are already up-to-date when an instance failure occurs, logging isn't necessary.

The two distinct cases in which direct-path INSERT is important are when:

1.The database is in noarchivelog mode. Media recovery is not possible, and you don't need redo data for that either.
2.The database is in archivelog mode. It logs redo blocks for media recovery by default. However, if you explicitly set a table to NOLOGGING mode, the database won't log redo blocks.
Therefore, with the direct-path INSERT when the database is in noarchivelog mode or when it is in archivelog mode and the table is in NOLOGGING mode, it performs only minimum redo logging—to protect the data dictionary.


reference:
http://www.devx.com/dbzone/10MinuteSolution/22191