Pros and cons own vs. new database

Hello there,

I need some help in writing up a pros and cons list concerning having to link an existing database to a new website vs. creating a new database along with the new website. I need to point out that the existing database contains all the ads of all our clients and is very complete. The new website will not need all this information and have only a certain selection of ads in a certain category. Another thing is that the existing database is already linked to 2 other websites which have a certain design and structure and were built with php. Since I’ll be programming the new website in RoR it would be advantage for me to have a database that follows the same conventions where it’s easier to build the schema that works well with RoR. Finally, there’s a thing where the existing database was designed and maintained by an external web designer who built it entirely in her language, which is Spanish, which has caused me some headaches as well trying to fit this database to work with RoR.

If you guys have other pros or cons you´d like to give me then I’d appreciate it a lot.