Maximum Number of Tables in a Database

[Simon Hewitt]

Greetings one and all,

I'm currently developing a database system to store a lot of data which is currently stored in individual files in a directory sturcture. For each 'job' there is a file produced containing anything up to 50,000 lines of data, all of which needs to be saved. We produce about 10 - 20 of these files per day and the aim of this new system is that we can now trace and identify records. I have two current plans of implementation :

1) A database per 'customer' in which the data will be inserted into as a individual table.

2) A 'jobs' database with all customers jobs being inserted as indivudal tables (i.e one table per job)

I like option 2, as it will remove a lot of redundancy and the system will be truly relational, however I am concerned about the number of tables that a MySQL database can hold. I've had a look through the documentation but can't find an answer to this. Can anyone give me an accurate figure, or is there no limits?

Any information greatly appreciated

Thanks

Simon

ps My first post!!