Tom Lane wrote:
"TJ O'Donnell" <tjo@xxxxxxx> writes:I ran across this quote on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_%28e-mail_client%29 "Text files are also much safer than databases, in that should disk corruption occur, most of the mail is likely to be unaffected, and any that is damaged can usually be recovered." Should probably insert as well the standard disclaimer about Wikipedia. Great source of info, but that particular sentence has not been corrected yet by the forces-that-dictate-everything-ends-up-correct-sooner-or-later to point out the design trade-offs between simple systems like files (or paper for that matter) vs more complex but safer systems such as databases. And no, I wont write it.... :) This is mostly FUD. You can get data out of a damaged database, too. (I'd also point out that modern filesystems are nearly as complicated as databases --- try getting your "simple" text files back if the filesystem metadata is fried.) In the end there is no substitute for a good backup policy... regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster -- Kenneth Downs Secure Data Software, Inc. www.secdat.com www.andromeda-project.org 631-689-7200 Fax: 631-689-0527 cell: 631-379-0010 |
