MySQL Versus Flat Files

[Cless]

My site is primary run on MySQL, however, due to its extensive lag, I was planning on using flat files for certain things (I would not store secure information, of course).

 

Anyway, disregarding that, the only thing I want to know is: are flat files quicker than MySQL databases?

 

Thanks.

[DarkWater]

Flat files can be much slower and are EXTREMELY unwieldy for large data sets.  I'd stick with MySQL.  And when you say it's slow, how slow are you talking about?

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Mysql uses compiled code to performs database operations on the files that it uses to hold your data. Using some slow parsed/tokenized/interpreted php code to perform operations on the contents of a file yourself will be at least 20 times slower.

[DarkWater]

Flat files can be much slower and are EXTREMELY unwieldy for large data sets.  I'd stick with MySQL.  And when you say it's slow, how slow are you talking about?

[laffin]

I disagree, Flat files can be fast and efficient means of storing info.

 

Caches are usually based on flat file designs, as well as the popular subset of SQL known as SQLite. And hands down it beats MySQL.

 

So YES, ya can move some of the data into a flat file schema and improve performance. But as with any DB, Design for optimized usage.