Question

What's the maximum size?

Asked by: DanR

I can't seem to find the maximum recommended size for an Access database or an Access table.  The database I'm building now will have a few smallish table, and one table with a million records and 51 fields.  Will this bring Access to its knees?

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Asked On
2004-09-07 at 11:27:59ID21121896
Tags

access

,

maximum

,

size

Topic

Microsoft Access Database

Participating Experts
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: jimhornPosted on 2004-09-07 at 11:32:14ID: 11999615

The maximum size of an Access database is something like 1 Gig.  

Recommended size will vary by user, but I've noticed a drop in anything above 50Mb.  In addition, you'll have to repair-compact A LOT so you don't wake up one morning and find your access app is now 400Mb.

If you are editing a table with a million records and 51 fields, I'd recommend exploring something larger such as SQL Server, Oracle, etc.

Hope this helps.
-Jim

 

by: capricorn1Posted on 2004-09-07 at 11:47:49ID: 11999758

it is actually 2 gig.

specification

Attribute                                                 Maximum
Microsoft Access database (.mdb) file size  2 gigabytes minus the space needed for system objects.
Number of objects in a database                32,768
Modules (including forms and reports with the HasModule property set to True) 1,000
Number of characters in an object name     64
Number of characters in a password           14
Number of characters in a user name or group name     20
Number of concurrent users                                    255

if you want to know more
Access window click Help

search for Specification

 

by: shanesuebsahakarnPosted on 2004-09-07 at 12:11:06ID: 11999989

1GB is the maximum size for Jet 3 (A95/97) databases. 2GB is the maximum for Jet 4, but that is also the maximum for a single *table*. You can get around the 2GB *file* size by containing large tables in their own separate databases if you wish.

 

by: shanesuebsahakarnPosted on 2004-09-07 at 12:12:07ID: 11999999

BTW - 1 million records won't be a problem, depending on your table design. I'm running one with something in the region of 5-8 million records.

 

by: divtPosted on 2004-09-07 at 12:17:41ID: 12000052


I used to have a 100MB with 4-5 users, and the performance was very bad.

 

by: shanesuebsahakarnPosted on 2004-09-07 at 12:23:56ID: 12000104

Depends on your design. A well designed, well indexed design will run far better than a badly designed or poorly indexed database.

 

by: divtPosted on 2004-09-07 at 12:28:20ID: 12000149


I agree.  Number of activities on the database (add/delete/update/search) also affect performance.

 

by: flavoPosted on 2004-09-07 at 14:01:59ID: 12000962

I have a db with 4-5M  (about 300Mb compacted) records in one of the tbl's, a search like select aFewFields FROM myTable where oneField like 'aaaaa*' takes about 3seconds to populate another form...

once i go -> like '*aaa*' then its slows down (cant use the indexes any more....) maybe 30sec's   - in Access97

 

by: shanesuebsahakarnPosted on 2004-09-07 at 14:07:18ID: 12001016

I seem to recall that Instr is faster than Like, but I'd have to run some tests to double check that.

Why no indexes?

 

by: flavoPosted on 2004-09-07 at 14:09:53ID: 12001038

No, there are indexes, but dont they "bocome basically usless) when ou use Like '*' & sSearch & '*' ???

ie, like with a * at the front??


Ill look into this inStr too... (when i get time from my 'real' job)

 

by: shanesuebsahakarnPosted on 2004-09-07 at 14:12:02ID: 12001050

Up to a point yes, but still useful for other searches and joins. I thought you meant you had to remove them from the design :)

 

by: flavoPosted on 2004-09-07 at 14:18:58ID: 12001101

>> I thought you meant you had to remove them from the design :)
I may not know what's going on, but Im not that bad....

:-)

 

by: StickyDragonPosted on 2004-10-29 at 07:58:17ID: 12444955

Curious about happens to a database that goes over 2 GB. I have a database at work which is 1GB and growing fairly quickly. Is it going to corrupt the database if it reaches 2GB or will it just no longer add new data to it?

 

by: kkammPosted on 2004-11-01 at 07:10:03ID: 12463379

if your 1 GB database is made of multiple tables, split them across multiple MDBs and link them to an MDE client.

This will delay your inevitable transition to SQL a little bit, but if you have that much data, SQL is in your very immediate future.

 

by: StickyDragonPosted on 2004-11-01 at 07:18:46ID: 12463501

I have about 5-6 tables that are linked into other databases and about 15-20 that are local tables. I made a copy of the DB and deleted all the linked tables to see how much space they take up, and then deleted a few tables to see what the results would be and the database size did NOT change. Is there something I need to do to refresh it and get the proper size of the DB so I can gauge how much space I can free up by removing tables?

 

by: kkammPosted on 2004-11-01 at 08:05:32ID: 12464076

Compact and repair it.

That is located under the tools > Database utilities.

Chances are, your database may be smaller than you think, if you've never done that before.

 

by: DanRPosted on 2004-11-01 at 08:57:31ID: 12464692

stickydragon, I'll tell you what my experience has been.  I have one table that is about 1 GB, and it takes about 2 mins. just to open that table.  Run a query?  Time for a coffee break!  Of course, I'm running the thing on my poor laptop with 512 MB of RAM, so it's not too surprising.

 

by: StickyDragonPosted on 2004-11-01 at 09:20:30ID: 12464947

Turns out that after deleting 1 table the DB is now 69MB, so I will just relocate that table into a seperate database so it dosen't corrupt the rest of the data.

Thanks.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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