PHP Should I store image paths in a database?

Question

I will have a website with a bunch of companies and each company will be able to upload their logo. Is it a good idea to just create a folder for each company who signs up, so it would be
companies/user1/logo.jpg and companies/user2/logo.jpg and just store everyone in a folder, that way I don't need the path to reference the image?

Or should I store them in one folder like company_logos/gaegha724252.jpg and they will all be random file names, and the path would be stored in the database associated with that company?

What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Using Folders for Organization

Advantages: They are logically clear to someone fiddling with the system on the back end- that's about it really.

Disadvantages: 'harder' to clean up when you delete a company, etc. and you have to make sure none of your directory names overlap, generally more work from the get go.

Using Images in One Folder

Advantages It's technically a bit easier to clean up and not all that much work.

Disadvantages You'll have to write at minimum a very basic collision detection algorithm and a very basic 'random name generator'.

Using the Database to Store Images

Caution: Many lives have been lost in this argument!

Advantages: Referential integrity, backing up/restoring is simpler, categorization

Disadvantages: Fraught with pitfalls, potentially slower, more advanced storage/retrieval techniques, potential performance issues and increase of network requests. Also, most cheap hosting providers' databases are way too terrible for this to be a good idea.

I highly recommend just using a hashed file name and storing it (the filename) in the database and then storing the images in a folder (or many folders) on disk. This should be much easier in the long run and perform better in general without getting too complicated.

Answer 2

I would go even further: calculate MD5 sum of each file before storing it to filesystem. You may use first two characters as the directory name of 1st level, next two characters as a directory of 2nd level:

vv 1st level
61f57fe906dffc16597b7e461e5fce6d.jpg
  ^^ 2nd level

As the a hashing algorithm has equal distribution, this will distribute your files equally among folders (the idea comes from how Squid organizes it's file cache). The server should return URL like this (e.g. no notion about directories):

http://server.com/images/61f57fe906dffc16597b7e461e5fce6d.jpg

and you may apply mod_rewrite to actually rewrite this url to something like this:

/storage/images/61/f5/7fe906dffc16597b7e461e5fce6d.jpg

This will also add some degree anonymity and hide the real image name. More over, if your clients will intend to upload the same contents, it will end up in the same file, which will save your disc space. Beware when removing the file from one client: it may also be used by others!