database vs flat files

Question

The company I work for is trying to switch a product that uses flat file format to a database format  We re handling pretty big files of data  ie  25GB file  and they get updated really quick  We need to run queries that randomly access the data  as well as in a contiguous way  I am trying to convince them of the advantages of using a database  but some of my colleagues seem reluctant to this  So I was wondering if you guys can help me out here with some reasons or links to posts of why we should use databases  or at least clarify why flat files are better  if they are

User · Answer

Databases all the way    However  if you still have a need for storing files  don t have the capacity to take on a new RDBMS  like Oracle  SQLServer  etc   than look into XML     XML is a structure file format which offers you the ability to store things as a file but give you query power over the file and data within it   XML Files are easier to read than flat files and can be easily transformed applying an XSLT for even better human-readability   XML is also a great way to transport data around if you must   I strongly suggest a DB  but if you can t go that route  XML is an ok second

User · Answer

Unless you are loading the files into memory each time you boot  use a database  Simple as that   That is assuming that your colleges already have the program to handle queries to the files  If not  then use a database

User · Answer

SQL ad hoc query abilities are enough of a reason for me  With a good schema and indexing on the tables  this is fast and effective and will have good performance

User · Answer

This is an answer I ve already given some time ago      It depends entirely on the   domain-specific application needs  A   lot of times direct text file binary   files access can be extremely fast    efficient  as well as providing you   all the file access capabilities of   your OS s file system       Furthermore  your programming language   most likely already has a built-in   module  or is easy to make one  for   specific parsing       If what you need is many appends    INSERTS   and sequential few access   little no concurrency  files are the   way to go       On the other hand  when your   requirements for concurrency    non-sequential reading writing    atomicity  atomic permissions  your   data is relational by the nature etc     you will be better off with a   relational or OO database       There is a lot that can be   accomplished with SQLite3  which   is extremely light  under 300kb   ACID   compliant  written in C C    and   highly ubiquitous  if it isn t already   included in your programming language   -for example Python-  there is surely one available   It can be useful even   on db files as big as 140 terabytes  or 128 tebibytes  Link to Database Size   possible   more       If your requirements where bigger    there wouldn t even be a discussion    go for a full-blown RDBMS    As you say in a comment that  the system  is merely a bunch of scripts  then you should take a look at pgbash

User · Answer

They re faster  unless you re loading the entire flat file into memory  a database will allow faster access in almost all cases   They re safer  databases are easier to safely backup  they have mechanisms to check for file corruption  which flat files do not   Once corruption in your flat file migrates to your backups  you re done  and you might not even know it yet   They have more features  databases can allow many users to read write at the same time   They re much less complex to work with  once they re setup

User · Answer

What about a non-relational  NoSQL  database such as Amazon s SimpleDB  Tokio Cabinet  etc  I ve heard that Google  Facebook  LinkedIn are using these to store their huge datasets   Can you tell us if your data is structured  if your schema is fixed  if you need easy replicability  if access times are important  etc

User · Answer

What types of files is not mentioned  If they re media files  go ahead with flat files  You probably just need a DB for tags and some way to associate the  external BLOBs  to the records in the DB  But if full text search is something you need  there s no other way to go but migrate to a full DB   Another thing  your filesystem might provide the ceiling as far as number of physical files are concerned

User · Answer

Difference between database and flat files are given below    Database provide more flexibility whereas flat file provide less flexibility  Database system provide data consistency whereas flat file can not provide data consistency  Database is more secure over flat files  Database support DML and DDL whereas flat files can not support these  Less data redundancy in database whereas more data redundancy in flat files

User · Answer

Databases can handle querying tasks  so you don t have to walk over files manually  Databases can handle very complicated queries  Databases can handle indexing tasks  so if tasks like get record with id   x can be VERY fast Databases can handle multiprocess multithreaded access   Databases can handle access from network Databases can watch for data integrity Databases can update data easily  see 1    Databases are reliable Databases can handle transactions and concurrent access  Databases   ORMs let you manipulate data in very programmer friendly way

User · Answer

Don t build it if you can buy it   I heard this quote recently  and it really seems fitting as a guide line   Ask yourself this    How much time was spent working on the file handling portion of your app   I suspect a fair amount of time was spent optimizing this code for performance   If you had been using a relational database all along  you would have spent considerably less time handling this portion of your application   You would have had more time for the true  business  aspect of your app

[database] database vs. flat files

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