Louis Davidson shows us a good scenario for SQL Server’s FileTable:
Now, my pictures are very manageable and searchable using SQL Server. The fact that the names are very standardized also helps me with searching the names in a file folder (I copy all of the files from the share into a Dropbox folder so I have access to the files everywhere I am as well.)
And additional cool thing is that even on my Express Edition local server, the filetable data is backed up with the database, so when I backup the database, it backs up my pictures in addition to the textual data. That extra backup, along with the copy of the files in Dropbox give me extra relief that I have a decent backup if something gets corrupted.
With just a little bit of configuration, and a little bit of code, I have a simple database of my images that I can search using T-SQL in a manner that is a lot more powerful that what I can reasonably do using File Explorer, along with the ability to keep history of how the pictures are used. This would be very useful for any photographer with a stock of pictures that they want to search and keep history of, even if it is just baby pictures…of the puppy.
Click through for the example. I think FileTable is one of the most underutilized features from SQL Server 2012.