MySQL backups MyISAM vs. InnoDB

Question

I have a django project that uses MyISAM tables. When I perform a backup, I have heard that it is recommended to use InnoDB tables rather than the MyISAM . What is the reason why this is suggested and is it imperative that I use InnoDB for backup?

Currently, I'm using the following for backup:

mysqldump -v -u $USER --password=$PASSWORD $DB >$BACKUP_FOLDER/$BACKUP_FILENAME

How would I convert this to InnoDB and do a backup?

Answer 1

The recommendation is more for data security - MyISAM tables are known to be less tolerant to faults (ie machine crashes etc)

To change the table types you would have to take you app offline and use ALTER TABLE tablename ENGINE=InnoDB;

With large tables you need at least twice as much disk space and it is possible to take many days if you are talking 100's millions of rows

Note there may be performance decrease in your application after and there still can be issues because it obviously wasnt designed to use transactions.