saving small files to database, what is the best way to save them?

Question

I have two files that I need to upload to a Sql Database. Each file will have it's own table.

File1:  filename.zip (of course a compressed file)
File1:  filename.asc (flat tab delimited file)

I am writing in C# and I am creating a service to send these files up to the database through.

What is the best way to save these files?

Should I save them different ways since they are two different types of files or can I use File.ReadAllBytes to save them both?

I am creating the tables, service, and the application to connect to the server so I have full control over what the datatypes will be. I've started the process but I'm not 100% sure I have this correct.

This is how I created the tables:

As I said previously, I can change the datatype if need be. Right now I am planning on making them binary. Is there a disadvantage to doing it this way?

I just a little guidance on the best way to handle this.

Thanks as always!

ADDITIONALLY

I wanted to add, these files are typically under 12kb in size.

Answer 1

If the files are really small (less than 8000 bytes each) than you can save them to a column of type BINARY or VARBINARY(MAX) but most files will easily exceed that size.

That said, SQL server does provide a mechanism to store files in a database via the FILESTREAM data type, the File Table or the Remote BLOB Storage .

Another note is that, while it's not very clear from your question, having separate tables for each file is generally not the right way to design a database. If you're storing similar information, with similar semantics, about the files than you really should have one table with multiple rows, one row for each file.