title: Is there a big technical difference between VARBINARY(MAX) and IMAGE data types?
body: <p>I was reading on internet these statements about <strong>SQL Server</strong> data types:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p><code>VARBINARY(MAX)</code> - Binary strings
  with a variable length can store up
  to 2^31-1 bytes.</p></li>
  <li><p><code>IMAGE</code> - Binary strings with a
  variable length up to 2^31-1
  (2,147,483,647) bytes.</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Is there a really big technical difference between <code>VARBINARY(MAX)</code> and <code>IMAGE</code> data types?</p>
  
  <p>If there is a difference: do we have to customize how ADO.NET inserts and updates image data field in SQL Server?</p>