title: Best practices for mixed usage of RDBMS and files on filesystem
body: <p>In one of the tables in the schema I am working on, I need to deal with couple-of thousand "data-sheets" which are mostly PDF documents, and sometimes graphic-image files like PNG, JPG etc. The schema models a Electronics Distributor's portal, where new products get added to their portfolio frequently.</p>
  
  <p>These documents (data-sheets) are added, at the time of introduction of a new product, but they need updates from time to time (s.a. due to newer version of the document, not the product itself), so I'd think the update to be an asynchronous procedure.</p>
  
  <p>Given this, should I keep only the file-name/path of the data-sheets (&amp; similar documents) in my table, with the actual file being on filesystem, or should I take the blob approach. I am almost certain that it should be the former approach, but still wanted to take community advise, and see if there are some pitfalls to watchout for.</p>