This article describes the internal structure of 4D's records. With this knowledge, you will be able to optimize the access to your data and better understand 4D's inner workings.

In order to store data, databases use specific files saved on a hard disk (or any other data storage device). Generally, database management systems use one file per table. In addition to that, they also need an additional file for each index (when developers have control over that parameter), or, in some cases, to describe a relation between two tables. This architecture's main advantage is to prevent you from mixing "apple and oranges" but it also quickly increases the number of disk files and it makes installations, updates, and backup increasingly difficult.

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