"Could not retrieve the file from the database."

DanielSchaffer · Post by **DanielSchaffer** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 9:21 am

I often get this error when attempting to add files into my repository. I am, however using Vault for likely rare purpose - maintaining my Music Library. As a result, most files are 3mb or larger. Is there a maximum file size? If so, can this be modified?

DanielSchaffer · Post by **DanielSchaffer** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 9:43 am

Okay, I've figured out that the error is because I'm hitting the database size limit (I'm running SQL Express). However, I'm not even sure I'd want a 15-20GB database if it were possible. Is there a way to store the files themselves in the file system instead of the database? I don't really care about maintaining multiple versions - in fact, I would prefer not to.

Beth · Post by **Beth** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:50 am

Vault doesn't really manage files on disk. It works with them on disk, and then stores the baseline and changes in the SQL server. I'm assuming a program or website you are working on is referencing them? You're not required to keep them in Vault. You might want to keep a copy in your working folder structure so that your code can access them, but then every client would need a copy of those music files.

DanielSchaffer · Post by **DanielSchaffer** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:08 pm

Beth,

Thanks for responding! I think I need to explain a little more about my situation. I have several computers on a wireless network, including a laptop which I frequently take while traveling, as well as an iPod and a Creative Zen. My wife is EXTREMELY anal about the naming of the files, populating the ID3 tags, album art, etc on ALL of the files in our music library. There have been several times when she has sat down and attempted to "fix" everything, and then ended up wasting time because of incompatibilities between media players - iTunes to WMP, Winamp, etc... All these apps have their own databases and don't seem to *actually* change the file, but store in the info using their own proprietary method. The new version of WMP apparently changes this and *actually* uses ID3v2 to store everything.

So now, she is preparing go through everything once again, hopefully for the last time. Since we both use different computers and frequently download MP3s and/or rip them from our CDs, I figured using a source control solution like Vault (which I use at work) would be the best way to keep an up to date library on each computer, which will allow the laptop to be used while separated from the other computers, and we won't have to worry about bandwidth issues streaming over a wireless network.

So no, I'm not writing a program or any code that references the files. Also, I don't really have a need for keep past versions in the database, and it would actually be much better to have the files themselves in the file system instead of in the database. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks again for you time

Beth · Post by **Beth** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:34 pm

Sorry, we don't really have a solution for this. I'm also not sure if we found a solution if we'd inadvertently violate some fine print in the copyright laws or someone's terms of use. (Though I'm terribly curious now and wish I could come up with a good business case for doing testing on this.)

Back to the initial question, the maximum that Vault can handle is whatever the SQL server limits are for the particular version you have, be it per file or total database size.

DanielSchaffer · Post by **DanielSchaffer** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:52 pm

Alright, thank you very much for your time. I understand this isn't a normal use case, and therefore probably not a huge priority for you, so I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I'll post back here if I figure out something good