Is it better to store images in a BLOB or just the URL? Possible Duplicate:
  Files - in the database or not?  




I was wondering if there's any good reason to still use blob fields in a database. A couple of years ago I worked with a DB with a bunch of images in it, the DB was very slow and I couldn't see any good reason to keep the images inside the DB, so I got the images out and stored the filenames instead.

Was this a smart move? What would you do in my place?
As you can tell from the other answers, this is a big "It Depends." Some other factors might be if you are paying for hosting, do they charge more for file storage or database storage. File storage is typically cheaper, especially for cloud services.

If you are self hosted and using SQL Server, the upcoming version, codename Denali, will extend FILESTREAM to allow access via both TSQL and file system. It also will make sure these stay in sync. You can access, update, delete from either side and it will keep everything organized.

Do your research and find out what's important to you and pick the direction based on that choice.