We have an ASP.NET application that it undergoing updating. One aspect of functionality in the application is to allow users to upload files to the server via ASP.NET. Under appropriate conditions, users are allowed to access these files programmatically through the ASP.NET application. The current storage methodology is to store the file path and file name in a SQL Server DB column and store the corresponding physical file in a folder in the file system on the server.

We have been approached by the management about changing this methodology to store the physical file in a DB column also, probably a BLOB column, ostensibly to make the files more secure. Does anyone have any experience of the pros/cons and issues of storing files in a SQL Server DB column and what would be entailed in programmatically serving the files up to the users from the DB backend via an ASP.NET page?

Thanks,
Bill