>I am moving from FPW26 to Visual FoxPro 6. I am considering making a database as opposed to using free tables, but am concerned that in doing so I will end up with a single huge file (like Access!) instead of my hundreds of much more easily handled and controlled free tables. Will I indeed end up with a 100MB database file,<

No. The database files have only metadata (information about tables, views, etc) in it, so it will not be large.

> or will I have a small database file which simply communicates with the 100MB of data? <

Yes. The database is made up of 3 files: the .dbc (table), the .dcx (index) and the .dct (memo). If you have 10 tables now, you will end up with 10 tables plus these 3 files.

>Also, will I be able to open up a single table within a database AS IF it it were a free table once I change?<

Yes. You will see little difference programming in 6.0 between using free tables and tables that are part of a database container. The biggest (but not the only) advantage with databases IMO is the ability to use views.

HTH

John