I have "inherited" a little C# method that creates an ADO.NET SqlCommand object and loops over a list of items to be saved to the database (SQL Server 2005).

Right now, the traditional SqlConnection/SqlCommand approach is used, and to make sure everything works, the two steps (delete old entries, then insert new ones) are wrapped into an ADO.NET SqlTransaction.

using (SqlConnection _con = new SqlConnection(_connectionString))
{
   using (SqlTransaction _tran = _con.BeginTransaction())
   {
      try
      {
         SqlCommand _deleteOld = new SqlCommand(......., _con);
         _deleteOld.Transaction = _tran;
         _deleteOld.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ID", 5);

         _con.Open();

         _deleteOld.ExecuteNonQuery();

         SqlCommand _insertCmd = new SqlCommand(......, _con);
         _insertCmd.Transaction = _tran;

         // add parameters to _insertCmd

         foreach (Item item in listOfItem)
         {
            _insertCmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
         }

         _tran.Commit();
         _con.Close();
       }
       catch (Exception ex)
       {
          // log exception
          _tran.Rollback();
          throw;
       }
    }
}

Now, I've been reading a lot about the .NET TransactionScope class lately, and I was wondering, what's the preferred approach here? Would I gain anything (readibility, speed, reliability) by switching to using

using (TransactionScope _scope = new TransactionScope())
{
  using (SqlConnection _con = new SqlConnection(_connectionString))
  {
    ....
  }

  _scope.Complete();
}

What you would prefer, and why?

Marc