Forum Attachments in dB or file system, is there really a performance difference?
 

Im curious if someone with a large site and lots of attachments has actually tried if there is really a performance difference in storing attachments and images in the file system or in the database?

I guess it all comes down to which storage, search and cashing is most efficient. I saw some MS SQL and IIS performace measurements where the result was that the difference was marginal. The SQL solution actually had a small performance benefit with average file sizes under 50K while the file system solution was slightly faster for larger files.

A decade or more ago, the storage of binary database was very inefficient but this has changed. So I wonder if there still is a performance advantage with file system storage or if this is based on old knowledge. From an organisational and backup point of view I really prefer the database storage model. My own database is so far too small to really see any difference.

So anyone really tried comparing?