CHAR and VARCHAR columns are space-padded to the specified column width, although the column type is not altered. This is also true for NUMERIC and DECIMAL columns created before MySQL 5.0.3. BINARY and VARBINARY columns are space-padded to the column width before MySQL 5.0.15. As of 5.0.15, BINARY and VARBINARY columns are padded with 0x00 bytes.

Very quick.

Easy to cache.

Easy to reconstruct after a crash, because rows are located in fixed positions.

Reorganization is unnecessary unless you delete a huge number of rows and want to return free disk space to the operating system. To do this, use OPTIMIZE TABLE or myisamchk -r.

Usually require more disk space than dynamic-format tables.

All string columns are dynamic except those with a length less than four.

Each row is preceded by a bitmap that indicates which columns contain the empty string (for string columns) or zero (for numeric columns). Note that this does not include columns that contain NULL values. If a string column has a length of zero after trailing space removal, or a numeric column has a value of zero, it is marked in the bitmap and not saved to disk. Non-empty strings are saved as a length byte plus the string contents.

Much less disk space usually is required than for fixed-length tables.

Each row uses only as much space as is required. However, if a row becomes larger, it is split into as many pieces as are required, resulting in row fragmentation. For example, if you update a row with information that extends the row length, the row becomes fragmented. In this case, you may have to run OPTIMIZE TABLE or myisamchk -r from time to time to improve performance. Use myisamchk -ei to obtain table statistics.

More difficult than static-format tables to reconstruct after a crash, because rows may be fragmented into many pieces and links (fragments) may be missing.

The expected row length for dynamic-sized rows is calculated using the following expression:

3
+ (number of columns + 7) / 8
+ (number of char columns)
+ (packed size of numeric columns)
+ (length of strings)
+ (number of NULL columns + 7) / 8

There is a penalty of 6 bytes for each link. A dynamic row is linked whenever an update causes an enlargement of the row. Each new link is at least 20 bytes, so the next enlargement probably goes in the same link. If not, another link is created. You can find the number of links using myisamchk -ed. All links may be removed with OPTIMIZE TABLE or myisamchk -r.

Compressed tables take very little disk space. This minimizes disk usage, which is helpful when using slow disks (such as CD-ROMs).

Each row is compressed separately, so there is very little access overhead. The header for a row takes up one to three bytes depending on the biggest row in the table. Each column is compressed differently. There is usually a different Huffman tree for each column. Some of the compression types are:

Can be used for fixed-length or dynamic-length rows.

The mysqld process is killed in the middle of a write.

An unexpected computer shutdown occurs (for example, the computer is turned off).

Hardware failures.

You are using an external program (such as myisamchk) to modify a table that is being modified by the server at the same time.

A software bug in the MySQL or MyISAM code.

You get the following error while selecting data from the table:

Incorrect key file for table: '...'. Try to repair it

Queries don't find rows in the table or return incomplete results.

The first time a table is updated in MySQL, a counter in the header of the index files is incremented.

The counter is not changed during further updates.

When the last instance of a table is closed (because a FLUSH TABLES operation was performed or because there is no room in the table cache), the counter is decremented if the table has been updated at any point.

When you repair the table or check the table and it is found to be okay, the counter is reset to zero.

To avoid problems with interaction with other processes that might check the table, the counter is not decremented on close if it was zero.

A MyISAM table is copied without first issuing LOCK TABLES and FLUSH TABLES.

MySQL has crashed between an update and the final close. (Note that the table may still be okay, because MySQL always issues writes for everything between each statement.)

A table was modified by myisamchk --recover or myisamchk --update-state at the same time that it was in use by mysqld.

Multiple mysqld servers are using the table and one server performed a REPAIR TABLE or CHECK TABLE on the table while it was in use by another server. In this setup, it is safe to use CHECK TABLE, although you might get the warning from other servers. However, REPAIR TABLE should be avoided because when one server replaces the data file with a new one, this is not known to the other servers.

In general, it is a bad idea to share a data directory among multiple servers. See Section 5.6, “Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine”, for additional discussion.