best practices w/ images

[eluser]jairoh_[/eluser]
is it okay to store the images in the database or the url of the images in the database?

i mean for big commercial systems.

give me some advantages or disadvantages. tnx

[eluser]TheFuzzy0ne[/eluser]
Yes, you can store images in the database without any problem, however, it means more I/O between your app and the database. I would definitely stick with just storing the URL in there.

Another disadvantage is that if your images reside on the hard drive, the logic is already taken care of for you. If the image doesn't exist, the server reacts appropriately and issues a 404. If you store your images in the database, you will have to code that logic yourself.