>I am a bit confused about ODBC. I want to change my application into a client server application so that I can place my database files on the server, in a directory which is not shared for obvious reasons. I then want those files only to be accessible using my client application, for which I want to use an ODBC connection. Is it necessary to upsize to SQL Server? Or can the ODBC connection be used directly for access?

If all is required is the protection of your data, you may try Cryptor.