The invention relates to a method and apparatus of distributing data in portioned databases operating on a shared-nothing architecture. The invention provides two independent streams of data, where a first stream sends table data, and the second stream sends LOB data, to a receiving partition. The receiving partition re-couples the LOB data with the table data. Using two independent streams to distribute LOB data can increase data redistribution since large amounts of input/output is not performed to handle the sending of LOB data in a coupled fashion.