>Jos / Jim,
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>The original statement of DavidF was that "bloat is something that affects performance" and that therefore "routine reindexing is prudent [...]". I have serious doubts about this position, well okay, under 'normal' circumstances. By the way, let not this thread become another discussion about bloat itself please. For that's not the issue I'm interested in, for now. Although bloat certainly is an issue if very large cdx-files are about to fill up an entire disk, in my case I'm only interested in the performance (=speed) and 'correctness' issues of (re)indexing.
>My view is: Under normal circumstances, REINDEX, or its drastic equivalent, will NOT improve performance. Therefore there's no need to advice superusers to regularly start the menu-option that will reindex all tables. The only time such an advice is ok, is when the SUPERuser has the feeling that an index has become outdated or corrupt. But even then it's often an even better advice to make a call to the helpdesk or developer.
>In other words, a reindex menu-option gives the user a false feeling of control over speed and correctness. Furthermore, while the superuser reindexes, other users cannot use the application. Sometimes that'll take minutes, in other applications it may take an hour or so. Precious time ... for nothing but false expectations.
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>Agree? Or disagree?

Well I hold the admittedly controversial opinion that fragmentation can be GOOD for a database application like VFP. And since a reindex (by any means) will certainly defrag the .CDX as well as MOVE IT away from its current (possibly optimal) location, I *do* believe that it *could* have a detrimental effect on performance.
But the facts of the matter are:
1) we have virtually no possibility to "control" deliberate fragmentation (especially for specific files), which would offer the possibility to FULLY optimize HD-related performance.
2) people DO generally defrag their HDs on a regular (or irregular) basis, if only to better optimize for other applications that may share that HD space and for which a contiguous file DOES offer improved speed.

Given especially #2 above I believe that any .CDX that regularly has lots of INSERTION activity AND a TAG primarily used in the application that has a wide range in those INSERTIONS will benefit from regular reindexing. Such reindexing will result in a smaller .CDX with the need for fewer reads necessary to access all pertinent index records.

cheers

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SNIP