[soonnow]

We used a small embedded db in our desktop product only for durability and SQL semantics. After we got multiple database corruptions we switched to a small file based store written in Java with simple DB semantics.

Looking carefully at what happens when data is lost we found that it's basically all recoverable.

This lead to an amazing performance, as data is flushed only when necessary. We flush only every 10 seconds now or when the write through cache is full.

My lesson learned from that is to carefully think about the actual requirements when it comes to transactions and having loose constraints may be the quickest way to speed up performance.

For many applications even a second or two of lost data may not be a big issue.