title: MySQL best way to store long strings
body: <p>I'm looking for some advice on the best way to store long strings of data from the mySQL experts.</p>
  
  <p>I have a general purpose table which is used to store any kind of data, by which I mean it should be able to hold alphanumeric and numeric data.
  Currently, the table structure is simple with an ID and the actual data stored in a single column as follows:</p>
  
  <pre><code>id INT(11)
  data VARCHAR(128)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I now have a requirement to store a larger amount of data (up to 500 characters) and am wondering whether the best way would be to simply increase the varchar column size, or whether I should add a new column (a TEXT type column?) for the times I need to store longer strings.</p>
  
  <p>If any experts out there has any advice I'm all ears!
  My preferred method would be to simply increase the varchar column, but that's because I'm lazy.
  The mySQL version I'm running is 5.0.77.</p>
  
  <p>I should mention the new 500 character requirement will only be for the odd record; most records in the table will be not longer than 50 characters.
  I thought I'd be future-proofing by making the column 128. Shows how much I knew!</p>