Mike,

I _think_ you'll have problems importing an external file over 4gb in
size, as I had suggested.

I wouldn't be surprised if didn't end up an endless loop continually
looping from bytes zero to 4GB-1byte, since the process would an ever
reach the end-of-file.

Most of the IB file I/O operations use 32 bit functions and pointers,
thus are limited to a file size of 4gb (under NT). The Firebird project
has started supporting 64bit I/O functions and pointers but haven't yet
gotten to changing the file I/O for External Files or sort/temp files.

In terms of improving the performance of your current approach, aside
from what has already been suggested, I would try an use a local
database connection if at all possible.


Sean