DB is basically a service....its like a server running, you will not find any active files on your drive....
what is confusing to start with is the many ways to interact with it....most experts will recommend you learn the basics...that is a solid advice, but hard to wrap your head around.
1. Direct access (the expert way)
then you log in with a command and BINGO you are at a prompt and got no clue what todo haha you can see information in tables and also you can update or insert a new line in the table.
2. GUI graphical interface, then a client will connect to the DB same way as in Nr.1 and you can then more visually see the structure of the whole thing, those clients are many and have many different functions. This can be the best way to start as long as you understand the structure of DB and different applications, as these clients most often offer a BACKUP of tables or whole DB.
3. You dump the whole DB or part of it into a .sql file...this can be treated as a text file, you can edit and work with it, then you can upload all of it or part of it. Lets say you export out of DB only 1 table you want to edit, when done you can upload the table again and it has a function where it deletes the old table and uploads the new one you just edited.
Best way is to BACKUP the whole DB before and after you do any changes, and if working alot with only 1 table, more backups of that table. DB's are very sensitive to CASE errors...I can not count how many times I mess up a DB cause I forgot a ' or used a ` instead, if any errors occur the whole DB wont run (I'm tired...this is BS haha but can happen).
the FUN part is messing with it and figuring things out.
I am far from an expert in DB's and I'm sure others have there own ways. Just a script-kiddy that hacks my way until I find a way haha
GL !
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