On 09/24/11 06:15, Malcolm Greene wrote:

> I respectfully disagree with your position. There was a recent thread on

> the SQLite mailing list that included some benchmarks that argued

> against use of blobs for storing files. While much of the discussion was

> SQLite specific, I think that many of the principles would also apply to

> other databases.

Since SQLite is stored in a single file (like Access!), I'd expect

storing blobs in the DB to be inefficient. But that's SQLITE. Other DB

structures may have very different results.

> Some generic reasons to store files outside of a database include the

> ability to use lower cost/speed file systems for file storage, faster

> database backups, and faster database maintenance activities when

> schemas change. Also much less database fragmentation.

>

> The only reason I can think to store files inside a database is for

> convenience, eg. having a single container for all your data.

I submit that another very good reason to store files inside a database

is to be sure they're there when you want to read them! If your DB has

only a file name, you have to do something else to ensure that that file

name will continue to exist. In most cases that 'something' looks

pretty much like part of the database - i.e., same server, same main

folder, same Administrator, etc.

For VFP, I would agree it's usually better if they're outside the .DBF

itself, but that may well not be true for SQL Server or Oracle. And I

suspect it's definitely NOT true for BigTable or Cassandra.

Dan Covill

San Diego

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