M$ Access 2000 and Memory Requirement?

[baoluanle]

Thanks in advance to all of your inputs! My question is how much memory would I need to run 500MB or bigger Access 2000 database? or How does Access handle the memory issue? does it load the entire dabase on memory or just the part that it needs? What about the processor speed? Again Thank You!

[Paul Komski]

It's a good question but there isn't a simple answer. A good rule of thumb is to have 5 to 10 times more local memory available than the size of the database and as much RAM as possible; with at least 64 to 128MB depending on the OS you are using. A large database like that would operate on very much less than this but its performance would be increasingly dismal as memory became cramped. If there is "memory leakage" or if code is badly written then a database can continue to grow even without the addition of data.

There isn't a simple answer because in the first instance it would depend on whether the database was a standalone or a front-end/back-end. If the latter it would also depend, where these were sited.

Also some databases are large because they have huge tables and yet be a simple application with few objects and little code. Others may have relatively small amounts of data but numerous and complex objects that might set up huge arrays and use loads of code.

Running large action queries, adding large amounts of data, importing data, compiling and saving module code, etc. can use a lot of additional space temporarily. The use of transactions and compacting a database can use a lot of disk space in a similar manner.

Performance can be improved in other ways; defragmenting, not allowing other applications to run simultaneously, regular compaction, dedicated swapfile and increasing the RAM buffer size within Access are just some examples.

There is loads and loads of stuff written about access and I would suggest doing some Google (http://www.google.com) searching and visit the MSDN Library (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp) as well as drop in on some of the Access Newsgroups.

Microsoft recommend using an Intel chip (of course they would) and once again the faster the better - though I don't know what the minimum recommended is; I would guess about 600MHz minimum, but once again the way the database is operating would make a big difference here.

Hope this helps a bit.



------------------
Take nice care of yourselves - Paul
"For a Pandora's box upgrade to IE6 (IEsicks that is)"

[baoluanle]

Thanks a bunch, that was very helpful and informative. Because my research mostly gave me more of the type problem-solution's and tutorials on Access 2000 not so much on the stuff that you talked about. I haven't built my database yet but i think now that i'll keep it simple and straight forward to avoid any unforeseen complication! I don't even think that my database will get to 500MB. But you said "...5 to 10 times more local memory available than the size of the database...", is that a bit too much? our computers max out at 512MB. Any ways, thank you very much!!!