experience with databases and jdbc-drivers

[Chantal Ackermann]

hi all,
I'd like to know if someone has experience with the postgresql, mysql, sybase, oracle managing _lots_ of data or with database access both using java and perl.
for the task (I am looking for a solution), most of the time the data will be selected one row at a time (certainly using an index). on the other hand, it will be necessary to regularly parse large textfiles and insert the new data.
i'd like to do all that using java, but i'm afraid, a parser written in java will be quite slow - i'd like to get an objection to this!
moreover, I've heard, that the jdbc-driver (from postgres) for PostgreSQL (that i'm using at the moment) is not reliable when inserting a lot of data. has someone experienced anything alike? what about the other drivers one gets listed at sun's, that seem to work for postgres as well: has someone used different jdbc-drivers with the postgresql?
thanx for your advice
chantal