We're optimizing our community portal script and revamping the upload method.

We were wondering if database (mysql) upload better than a standard file directory storage upload?

What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Thanks,
Geoff

IMO, file directory method might be better because:
1. It's easier and more efficient (incremental backup is possible) to backup a directory
2. If the DB is corrupted, you may lose everything whereas with file method you probably just lose a few files
3. Less load on DB server since data size is smaller

IMO, file directory method might be better because:
1. It's easier and more efficient (incremental backup is possible) to backup a directory
2. If the DB is corrupted, you may lose everything whereas with file method you probably just lose a few files
3. Less load on DB server since data size is smaller

Thanks, that was very helpful!

What I do is place the important files BELOW the web root, and use a PHP file to read them and serve them to visitors with file_get_contents (http://www.php.net/file_get_contents).

It is much easier to prevent file leeching that way, as the actual download location is never revealed. You can even use mod_rewrite to make it more realistic-looking, like /files/get/blah.zip really points to a PHP file /file.php?file=blah.zip which reads from a directory below the web root. It works very well!