Re: What DB to use for lots of IMAGE files?

Mirwais Qader wrote:
>
> I am in the process of evaluating how to set up a database of about
> 1,000,000 (million) images of products, medical files etc... The
> database would consist of the following attributes:
> Search_KeyWord1, Search_KeyWord2, Search_KeyWord3,
> Description (text 100 chars), FileName, FileExtension, PathOfFile,
> ImageData (Raw 100K to .5 MB).
>
> This could be stored in 1 table, but I would probably split
> the non-image attributes from the image attributes since not all
> users would want to view the image data.
>
> The criteria is FAST ACCESS to the data, and fast loading of the
> image if the user wants to see it. Some users may want to go
> through a list of 10-100 images before finding the one they want.
>
> How can I set this DB up? What DBMS would be good for this?
>
> I was thinking a table for the text data, a table for the image
> data, a set of indeces for each table.
>
> Can I do this using SQL Server? My user is probably not going
> to be able to afford something like the Oracle Workgroup Server
> and would need to run it off of Windows NT or 95. What DBMS's
> are affordable enough for a small user community of 5 or so
> people?
>
> What format should the image data be stored in (.jpg, .gif, .tif,
> ....)?
>
> As an aside:
> How does one determine what vendor's product (DB, etc...) is best
> for a particular process? For example, what's the best warehousing
> product out there?
>
> Thanks for any advice!
> -Mir.
>
> PS: Please respond by email!

Hi,
 Why not SQLBase? Depending on your front end you could use compression. I currently support a SQLBase/SQLWindows app which has approximately 800,000 compressed images in a table of a separate database from the production database. Performance is fine with 30 users. The database is about 4 gigs in size. I haven't had many problems during the 2 + years of use.

Jerry O'Brien
DAR Computer Inc.
905-508-8700 Received on Sat May 10 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT