Kevin,

>Some of our databases are built so that the physical order of the database is by acct, item, and date. Others are built so that the physical order is purely by date.

>Typical queries using the former go very quickly. The same query against the latter goes VERY slowly.

>I've already reproduced this in isolation, but was wondering if anyone immediately had any additional 'supporting information' to back this, as I'm putting together an internal memo to our database group.


I assume that you query only a part of the table... Yes the physical order wherin the records are stored does matter. This has to do with the nature of how data is stored and retrieved on a HD. You can easely draw a parrallel with fragmented files on a HD: If you order the fragments of your files in the way they're most frequent accessed, the better performance.

Walter,