store images in database - SQL Server 2008

Question

Based on my understanding, there are 3 ways I could do it.

1. Filestream
2. File-system
3. Store images in the database itself

I am having a hard time deciding which one would be more appropriate for me.

I will have a lot of more reads than writes, but writes wouldnt be completely infrequent either.

All images would be less than 1 MB in size for sure, but they would usually be around 50KB.

Answer 1

Don't store your images in the database, or binary data at all for that matter if it can be avoided. It doesn't belong in a database. Store the images in your filesystem and dump a pointer into your database with all the associated metadata (file type, size, date, etc.).

When doing this, you'll need to take a couple precautions. First, you'll need to make sure to avoid filename collisions somehow (perhaps save the file using a file id substituted for the real filename). Second, make sure you won't end up with too many files in a single directory - this can lead to performance issues down the road.

Answer 2

The answer is, it depends. I would need to know more about the exact nature of your application. You are on the edge of using filestream vs storing images inthe database. See this MSDN article for a complete discussion of the pros and cons of each approach. I think the biggest decision point will be the performance of frequent small updates.