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The main benefits of SQL Server over Access are improved reliability, better performance, reduced network traffic and increased scalability. Drawbacks are an increased deployment cost and a more complex support environment. For small workgroups of up to a dozen users on a Local Area Network with modest data requirements (no more than 50,000 records) and without ultra-high reliability requirements then Access is probably your best bet. Outside of these parameters you should probably look to a client/server solution such as SQL Server.