Access or SQL Server? Choosing a Database (part 1 of 2) - Reasons not to Choose Access

Access or SQL Server? Choosing a Database (part 1 of 2) - Reasons not to Choose Access

It may seem strange to write such a negative article - "reasons NOT to choose Access"- but sometimes the easiest way to choose software is to understand its limitations, rather than its strengths. We have included a case FOR Acceess at the bottom of this article.

With that apology out of the way, here goes!

Access Crashes ...

Microsoft Access crashes, database files get corrupt, and you can tear your hair out trying to get back to where you were before everything went pear-shaped.

There is in fact a sequence of steps which nearly always solves the problem:

Compact your database (however, this rarely solves the problem, in which case ...

Create a new, blank database.

Import all Access objects from the old database into the new one.

Sometimes it is the case that a particular form or report has got corrupted. In this case, you need to import all of the objects except the corrupted form or report, and then recreate this from scratch.

However, while a workround does exist, it is still incredibly annoying having to go through the rigmarole above, and is the most powerful reason we know for avoiding Access.

Runs Slowly Over Networks

Unless properly designed, an Access database will run slowly over your Intranet, and even more slowly over a wide-area network. Things get particularly bad when you have more than a few users. Splitting the Access database into code and data can help, but SQL Server is always going to be much, much faster than Access.

it really depends on how much data you have, how many users and where they are all located. If 2 or 3 people in one department share a database with under 50,000 records in the biggest table, it will probably work fine; otherwise, speed may become an issue.

Long Learning Curve

Superficially, Access is easy to learn: a point-and-click macro language and drag-and-drop query design allow Microsoft to sell it as an end-user application. In practice, Wise Owl have found that it takes many months to get used to all the foibles of Access.

This article has given 3 reasons not to choose Access. What we like about Access is:

It allows you to create attractive forms and reports quickly

It is very powerful (if you know the VBA programming language, you can do almost anything)

You'll often hear people who work in I.T. dismissing Access out of hand, as a toy database which doesn't work reliably. If you accept the disadvantages shown above, we'd disagree with this. Perhaps the best combination is to store your data in SQL Server and create forms and reports in Access?

If you found this article useful, have a look at the sister article ("Access or SQL Server? Choosing a Database (part 1 of 2) - Reasons not to Choose SQL Server").

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