I'm guessing that QuickBooks uses a binary file to store its data in.

My question is, is there a limit to how much data you'd want to store like this? Is there a point to where you would need to be using a database?

From what I can tell, (and as has been suggested to me on this forum) is that when you use a binary file, you serialize the data, write it to file and it is stored there. Then if you want to edit one record, you read in the entire file, find the one record you want to edit, edit it, then write the entire serialized object back to the file.

Just curious to know if it is a good idea to use Binary files like this? I would guess it is safe up to a point, (or QuickBooks, Money... etc.. wouldn't be doing it) but does it have its size limits?

Thanks.