The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM - Red Gate Software

Chapter 2: Getting Started with FILESTREAMSo, in this example, the image that was loaded into the FILESTREAM column of theItems table is stored in the file system folder e943c1e6…5c1f5. Note that the name ofthe folder may be different if you are following this example on your computer, but thehierarchy will be the same.Let's get adventurous and explore this folder. But before that, a statutory warning!In a production system, never touch the FILESTREAM files directly!Never update the FILESTREAM data directly. I am showing this here only for demonstration purposes,and it should never be done on a production system. If you do, you may corrupt your database. TheFILESTREAM data files should be accessed only using the Win32 interface exposed by SQL Server, asexplained in Chapter 3: Accessing FILESTREAM Data from Client Applications.Bearing in mind the risks of playing with the FILESTREAM data container, let's go aheadand do it anyway, as it will shed some light on how the files are stored in the file system. Ifwe navigate to the file system location for the ItemImage column, we will see somethingvery similar to Figure 2-5.Figure 2-5:The contents of a FILESTREAM data container.76