>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>>I'm working on a system where the user wants to scan documents and store them in a database. I'm guessing at this point that scanning will be to a TIF or JPG, but am wondering if they may be able to scan to a PDF. What would be the best field type to store these scans?
>>>>
>>>>You have a few options.
>>>>
>>>>1. Only store a path to the file in SQL Server (this is the same suggestion as using VFP tables)
>>>>
>>>>2. Use VARBINARY(max) field
>>>>
>>>>3. Use new (SQL Server 2008) FileStream option.
>>>
>>>Thanks. Which option would you recommend?
>>
>>It all depends on the requirements. The first option is the easiest to implement and it requires less storage in the database, but it adds burden on supporting / managing files in the file system.
>>
>>For SQL 2008 I'd recommend the option 3, although I personally haven't worked with it.
>
>Same here - I would go with 1 or 3 (I haven't tried 3 yet) - but you sure don't want to use option 2.

It depends.
Sometime you didn't have a choice.
If the server is somewhere over the worlds and sharing a folder is out of questions, then 1st choice gone. And if this is 2000 or 2005 you have only one choice: to use varbinary(max) (image- grrrr - in 2000) :-)