What is the best way to associate a file with a piece of data?

Question

I have an application that creates records in a table (rocket science, I know). Users want to associate files (.doc, .xls, .pdf, etc...) to a single record in the table.

Answer 1

You should only store files in the database if you're reasonably sure you know that the sizes of those files aren't going to get out of hand.

I use our database to store small banner images, which I always know what size they're going to be. Your database will store a pointer to the data inside a row and then plunk the data itself somewhere else, so it doesn't necessarily impact speed.

If there are too many unknowns though, using the filesystem is the safer route.