You are assuming a Monolithic DB is the Only DB type allowed to exist.
It is not.
I started with Paradox DOS (Ansa) Relational DB where every part was a separate file that worked together.
One single table could have as many as 64 members of its 'Family'
DB, Pri-Index, n Sec-indexes, 15 Reports, 15 Forms, a entry field template (
I can't remember them all now, but those were the main ones)
An Relation was established across many tables, all of them could also be used separately (with care
)
A lookup Table could be shared among diverse applications without the need to replicate within each MDB. ex The same Postal code, City/State Lookup was used by every application with an street address. The table did not even need to be on the same drive as the application DB
Advantage: You worked with small files and did not need to open a huge DB package. Fast, even on a 8080 (XT) PC with MFM drives
Disadvantage: The 'Family' members of a Table must be maintained as a paired-sets (backed up and restored as a unit)