Hi
we are developing image databases since years ...
design hint:
- store the thumbnails in database as a blob
! two tables (image and thumbnail) --
image points to thumbnail!! (not a joke - a good hint)
- store preview and original outside in filesystem
- store the path to preview and orig. in the database
--> these will be fast, solid and usefull!
If it is a realy production system - please use a hardware (!!!) raid system.
Use 2 80GB ide drives on a hardware mirror - it is cheap and secure.
Better are 5 73GB scsi drives as raid 5 (hardware) using one as hotspare ...
Michael