Comment Pytables (Score 1) 702
Looking at the large majority of replies to this story (mostly database blinkered) it reminds me why I don't ask slashdot for advice.
You asked for a portable format. Databases are not really portable!
You want a platform-independent, self-describing, single file-based, storage layer that you can carry on a thumb drive, that won't be locked into an API or persistence layer.
www.pytables.org
We use it. It'll scale to gigs and gigs in size also because of it's HDF heritage.