> I guess I have to comment here again and point out that while I am
> having this
> issue with text searches, I avoid using count(*) in such cases, I just
> use
> next and previous links.
Unfortunately sometimes you got to do an ORDER BY on search results, and
then all the rows got to be read...
> Where the real problem (for me) is that when someone
> searches a date or time range. My application keeps track of huge
Have you tried CLUSTER ?
Also, it is sad to say, but if you need an engine able to use index-only
scans which would fit this type of query, replicate the table to MyISAM.
Unfortunately, the MySQL optimizer is really not so smart about complex
reporting queries (no hash joins, no hash aggregates) so if you don't have
a multicolumn index covering that you can use for index-only scan in your
query, you'll get either a really huge sort or a really nasty nested loop
index scan...