MyISAM table. The MyISAM storage format is the default type in MySQL since MySQL version 3.23. It has the following features:
■ If the operating system itself allows larger files, the files are larger than the ISAM storage method.
■ Data is stored in an independent machine format with low byte priority. This means that tables can be copied from one machine to another, even if their architecture is different.
■ Value index values occupy less storage space, because they are stored preferentially by high bytes. The index value changes rapidly in the low byte, so the high byte is easier to compare.
■ The AUTO_INCREMENT process is better than the ISAM table. The details are discussed in Chapter 2.
■ Several index restrictions are reduced. For example, you can index columns with NULL values or BLOB and TEXT columns.
■ To improve the table integrity check, each table has a flag. After checking the myisamchk table, set this flag. You can use myisamchk-fast to skip the check that the table has not been modified since the previous check, so that this management task is faster. The table also shows whether the table is normally disabled. If the server is shut down abnormally or the machine crashes, this flag can be used to detect the table to be checked when the server starts.