Access vs MySQL - Performance comparison?

srsanborn

Member
Jul 29, 2001
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Can anyone give some stats, or links to comparisons, between MS Access and MySQL hosted databases? I know the general answer is MySQL is better, but I'm wondering in what ways, and at what point, performace/traffic wise.

I'm involved in a small site that is currently running off Access just fine, but looking to the future, there will be more and more users doing more and more database related activities, and I'm wondering at what point Access fizzles out and MySQL is wise to port over to.. in terms of the amount of work being performed by the database (users will be changing their details, posting messages, uploading images etc.. so this kind of "simple" stuff, nothing terribly complex.)

Are there any articles that provide details and compare the performance of these two database environments in small-to-large scale applications? Meaning.. an article that talks about the positives and negatives of each database for different application sizes would be nice (since we're going to be transitioning from small to large). Any help or links are appreciated!
 

WobbleWobble

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2001
4,867
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Access should actually be able to handle thoundands of records. I would port not because of performance, but how Access stores the data. Any "real" database should have things like a proper read and write buffer, undo logs and things. If there's a crash on the server, Access will be a lot more vulnerable to corruption.

A "real" database would also be able to more efficiently store data, leading to faster reads and a smaller database.

Access is a relational database that enforces referential integrity. I'm not sure if MySQL does yet, I know before it didn't and that's the biggest weakness of it. It would be very easy for Microsoft SQL Server to import that Access database, however. Might be another DBMS you might want to look at.
 

joinT

Lifer
Jan 19, 2001
11,172
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5 or less users Access can usually manage.
25+ users, expect major problems. Multiple daily crashes (average of 3) Corrupted records every week, etc.

# of records isn't really a problem for Access.
# of users is the big problem.
Also Access doesn't have stored procedures and other cool SQL stuff.
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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PostgreSQL is a much more competent database, it's free like MySQL but supports a ton of the features 'real' DBAs expect from a database.