From: Ed Carp Date: March 18 1999 3:55pm Subject: Storing large files in the database List-Archive: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql/499 Message-Id: <005501be7157$ca6eb920$74c9a8c0@traveler.airmail.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > One point though, it stores the actual email bodies in files NOT in the database! > I have a set of modified sources which change this behaviour (it's a first pass for a > project that did not go any further, but it does work) if you want them (need to > check licensing issues first). Can someone explain to me why this will not *always* be slower than storing the actual message in the database? Most filesystems are not optimized for accessing large numbers of files in a directory, but databases are. This isn't noticeable until you get a few hundred files in one directory, then it gets painful. Why go through all sorts of pain writing code to deal with it when it's just as easy to stick the actual message in the database?