[SOLVED] Alternative To mod_auth_mysql

[fanfavorite]

I have a site that is password protected using php/mySQL.  This works fine, but I want to have the directories protected.  I have thought about putting them outside the public_html folder, however I don't believe I can do this the way I have everything setup.  Basically I have an Admin area that allows the administrator to add users and upload the content in zip format.  It extracts it on the server, etc into a specified directory and a page is setup in the members area to read in all of the uploaded data.  So I don't believe there is a way for me to have it extract the data in an outside directory or that would be a security issue right? 

I also don't want to go the route of .htpasswd, so I tried to use .htaccess to access the mySQL database to check for the username, however my host does not have a module mod_auth_mysql and won't install it. 

My question is, is there an alternative to mod_auth_mysql that my host might have?  Or do you have any suggestions as to what I should do?   

Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

-JC 

[fanfavorite]

Well thanks to all who viewed and tried to help.  My workaround is adding the following into my htaccess file:

SetEnvIf Referer mydomain.com internal

<Limit GET POST>
order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from env=internal
</LIMIT>

This doesn't allow anyone to type in the direct url, but allows the images to display on the members page.