Will using Access's linked data source function use less memory?

[shawnnnnnnn]

Hi all,

I have a really large file that can easily surpass the 2GB limit. I was wondering if I split the file into 2 different databases, and link them together, will it use less memory?

And if yes, is it possible to query a report from 2 different databases?

[Stewart Ross]

If you have multiple tables, some of which can be split out to keep within the 2GB limit, it is certainly possible to split these into one or more separate databases which can be linked to the master reporting database using the Get External Data facilities built into Access.

I do this myself with off-line copies of tables extracted from a SQL Server database which together go above the 2GB limit. It's not ideal, however. I do it to avoid accessing the live data on SQL Server as a means of ensuring that the reporting facilities cannot affect the integrity or performance of the SQL Server database, but given a choice I'd use ODBC and connect directly to SQL Server to do the reporting.

If, however, you mean can you split a single very large table across two databases to keep within the 2GB limit I'd have to say that such a workaround is impractical and fraught with potential issues. You'd really need to load that data into SQL Server or any other large-scale client-server database instead, bearing in mind that you can connect to SQL Server and others such as Oracle from Access via ODBC to do the reporting.

-Stewart