In what cases should I use XML as database?

Question

I'm using right now, Access like my database gestor, but I realized that it's so slow in my application (I have no idea if the problem is Access or the data).

But I'm thinking if I can change my database to XML files. What do you think?

Answer 1

XML files may be even slower than Access. You may want to consider SQL Server Compact Edition or SQL Server Express instead.

Answer 2

Use XML if it is relatively small data with few data manipulation hits to the file. If you need more (more space and more data manipulation) then look towards SQL Server Express or Compact Edition.

Just a technicality, XML isn't really a database. Its considered a datastore.