title: convert nchar(20) field to a datetime data type in sql server 2005
body: <p>I need to select from a table and filter on dates greater than a 
  specified date. </p>
  
  <p>The problem I'm having is that the dates are stored as nchar(20) and I 
  can't seem to get it converted to date in the where clause. </p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT CONVERT(DATETIME,log_time,20) from dbo.logs 
  where CONVERT(DATETIME,log_time,20) &gt; '10/20/2008' 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Msg 241, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 
  Conversion failed when converting datetime from character string. </p>