i have a 114 members on my database and the database size is now about 1.6Mb.

so what will be the size expected for an average 1000 members

and will the forum be very slow???

can any1 give me an average size? i see here have many members , what is its size??

Following quotes are taken from: http://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=275&KW=+db+%22+mb%22 - http://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=275&KW=+db+%22+mb%22

-boRg- wrote: I'm using an SQL server database with many other tables in it for other things, so I can't accuratly tell you but at present it is 7.5Mb, of course also being SQL server it is going to be different and half of that is probally from other tables that run form the same database.

MadDog wrote: I have a SQL database and i exported it last nite to see if i could somehow change it to work with v7... but the Access database that i exported was about 7MB's and i have a little over 1000+ members and 5940+ posts.

so is it better to use Sql database?

which version is the best ??

and is it easy to make backup for it ? in the v.7.1 ,i downlaod the database file , that's the backup 4 me...?

and is it possible to change from version 7.1 to Sql version??

somy wrote: so is it better to use Sql database? which version is the best ?? and is it easy to make backup for it ? in the v.7.1 ,i downlaod the database file , that's the backup 4 me...? and is it possible to change from version 7.1 to Sql version??

all of these questions have been answered over and over. Do a search on the forum and you will find the answers.

As far as database size, that has been discussed many times. It depends on many factors including your webserver setup, forum mods, etc. I've got one that is currently 4.8MB's in size (upgraded from v6.34) and still runs great even though it is heavily mod'ed including showing users online, etc, which are supposed to be Access forum no-no's. So in short, it all depends on your setup.

There are also some ASP scripts that will compact/repair the database as well as automate a backup on your webserver. However, I would recommend that you setup a schedule to periodically close your forum, download a copy of the database for backup, and reopen the forum. You could also use Access's compact/repair and reupload while the forum is shut down then reupload it. That is a little safer than the compact/repair script since you would have a local backup copy just in case. I also recommend that you occasionally batch delete topics while in a "forum maintenance" session which will keep the forum speed up and size down. After all, you will have a backup copy of the database should you ever need those old topics. I keep several "archived" copies zipped up on my local pc which dramatically decreases the file size of an Access database.

One easy to implement and fairly cost effective solution is to use Second Copy 2000 (www.centered.com) to automate the process of backups in conjunction with Web Drive (www.southrivertech.com). This makes backups a snap. Of course you could use a "manual" way of setting up web drives using TCP/IP bindings but there are some security issues to be aware of.