Hilmar,
thanks for your suggestions. Please see my response to Craig.

John.

>
>I don't know about COM, but:
>
>There are several free, or cheap, alternatives to SQL Server. The most popular seems to be MySQL. Other options include PostGreSQL, and the freely distributable version of Microsoft SQL Server, MSDE (max. 2 GB database, max. users (recommended) = 5, can be freely distributed with Visual FoxPro 7 programs).
>
>"Write directly to disk" - Don't you use buffering?
>
>To reduce data corruption, it often helps to issue FLUSH after saving data to disk.
>
>HTH, Hilmar.