Re: PostgreSQL theoretical maximums.

Karen Hill wrote:
> How many tables can PostgreSQL theoretically and then practically
> handle?  What is the largest database size possible?  What was the
> biggest database you've ever had on PostgreSQL?  What were the
> challenges and what kind of hardware and OS works best?

Maximum number of tables etc. is a FAQ:
   http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs.FAQ.html#item4.4

It's been running on unix-like systems for much longer than Windows.
Apart from that, the best system is probably determined by your experience.

> What is an effective way to predict database size when designing
> tables?

Rule-of-thumb - assume 3-5 times the size of the raw data to allow for
overhead, indexes etc. Other than that, you can find details of on-disk
formats for rows towards the end of the manuals.

--
   Richard Huxton
   Archonet Ltd