Also you should consider the context in which you are developing. Often there are "standard" tools and methods to deal with the kind of data you want to store.

Also you should consider the context in which you are developing. Often there are "standard" tools and methods to deal with the kind of data you want to store. E.g. if you are interested in storing significant amounts of structured floating point data, choosing something like HDF5 will not only make your life easier it will also make it easy to communicate what you have done to others.