Loading LONG RAW data

Your assertion that a blob must reside on the server's file system to be loaded is only correct if you are using the BFILE datatype. If you use the BLOB datatype, then your binary file can be on any system so long as you have an application on that system to load the file into the database. This is done all the time. For instance, many Web sites let you upload files from the client's Web browser to the database.

I would stay away from LONG RAWS since they are more restrictive and will be desupported soon.

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