db for image storage

[Photoguy]

Hi,
I'm planning on building a database for storage of photo images as part of a small system I'm writing. I have a 2 parter question. First, of MySQL and PostgreSQL, would either of them lend themselves better to this type of usage? And second, I'm wondering if it is better to actually store the images in the database (say, 5,000 and up, and could be fairly large image sizes), or instead, use the database to store descriptive information and search terms while actually storing the images themselves as separate files.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Photoguy]

Sorry. And, I meant to add, store the images as separate files and point to them from within the database.

[Rawhide]

Store them as separate files and store a pointer to the file in the database. No database is good for storing images in the database, in my opinion.

[Photoguy]

Thanks, Rawhide, I was thinking the same thing about the images. I'm thinking of using MySQL, then, mostly because it's so predominant on the web hosting services. Sound good?

Thanks for the reply.

[Rawhide]

I'm a SQL Server guy myself.

I think important factors to consider is what development languange are you going to use and what platform will it be on. I'm a fan of mixing like technologies.

If you're using or planning to use Unix or Linux, go with MySQL. If you're going to go with a Windows server, SQL Server will give you the better performance and reliability. The only problem is that SQL Server is expensive. A lot of people are willing to forgo the extra power to save some money by using MySQL.

MySQL is still a solid performer on Windows!!