Question

I have an Access database currently. There is a backend, and there are multiple users who use this database with their own front end. The size of the data is very small; however there are several forms that are constantly in use.

I need to migrate the data to MySQL. Should I continue to use an Access front end or program my own c# front end? Why would one be better over the other?

Answer 1

I think you all are either completely crazy or don’t know a damned thing about Access.

It is certainly true that the upsizing tools for SQL Server are easier to use than anything available to you for upsizing to MySQL. But the difficulty of upsizing should not drive your choice of back end, because it’s a one-time choice. Choose your back end database based on what works best for you. While SQL Server Express is free, it has a number of limitations that MySQL itself does not have.

As I said in comments, you can export an Access table to MySQL by defining a DSN for your MySQL database and simply using the EXPORT command on the Access file menu. The results will not necessarily be perfect, so you might have to tweak the results, truncate the MySQL table and then insert the real data once the MySQL tables are all in place. Yes, this is more work than the SQL Server upsizing tools, but it’s still pretty easy to do.

And it’s not something you have to get right on the first go, nor do you have to do it multiple times.

If MySQL is your preferred database engine for your app, then go with it. Using SQL Server entirely because of the more elaborate upsizing tools is really a case of the tail wagging the dog!