.mdf equivalent for mysql (TOAD)

Question

What is 'SQL Server Database Primary Data File (.mdf)' equivalent for mysql.

• I am using 'Toad for mysql' (Vesion 7.7) tool

Answer 1

Assuming that you are using MyISAM engine it should be *.myd extension file which corresponds to data file and *.frm corresponds to table format file.

Per MySQL Documentation

Regardless of the storage engine you choose, every MySQL table you create is represented on disk by a .frm file that describes the table's format (that is, the table definition). The file bears the same name as the table, with an .frm extension. The .frm format is the same on all platforms, but in the description of the .frm format that follows, the examples come from tables created under the Linux operating system.

Answer 2

Since MySQL comes with an extendable table engine model, there is no straight answer to this question, since each table engine has different file formats.

The only file type that is independent of table engines, is the table definition file (*.frm).

Actual data and indexes are stored by different table engines in different ways. Even within a single table engine, there may be different ways to store data (eg in innodb the data can be stored in large tablespace files, or each table may have its own files). You have to check out each storage engine's own documentation on how it stores the data.

Much of the metadata is stored in the mysql system database, which is a myisam database. The other metadata schemas (information_schema, performance, sys) are constructed on-the-fly by MySQL as temporary memory tables (you can check with show create table command).

Some of