Can a Folder Have Too Many Files?

[jim evans]

I have a folder with about 6000 picture files in it. Recently it has
begun taking a V E R Y long time to open. Is there a tipping point
where you reach too many files in one folder?

jim

 

[Enkidu]

I have a folder with about 6000 picture files in it. Recently it has
begun taking a V E R Y long time to open. Is there a tipping point
where you reach too many files in one folder?

Every file you put in a folder means that the directory (which is a
special type of file itself) gets bigger and bigger. This has to be read
to, for example do a listing of the directory, and of course this takes
time. It is not a simple relationship - two times as many files means
that it will take *more than* twice as long to read, but it is difficult
to judge exactly how much longer. The memory in a machine might be a
factor, as will the speed of the disk. Think of it as a curve with an
ever increasing slope. For large number of files, the access times might
be very, very long.

There may be a tipping point, as perhaps when the size of the directory
approaches a significant proportion of the size of your memory, in which
case the in-memory copy of the directory will start to be paged, but the
major cause of slowdown would, in my guess, be the speed of the disk,
and possibly, any fragmentation of the directory on disk.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Ron Martell]

I have a folder with about 6000 picture files in it. Recently it has
begun taking a V E R Y long time to open. Is there a tipping point
where you reach too many files in one folder?

jim

There is an upper limit of 65,534 directory entries per folder. Files
with long file names (more that 8 characters plus 3 for the extension)
use multiple directory entries so often the practical limit is
somewhere in the 15 to 20,000 file range. But with very long file
names the limit could be reached sooner. There is no practical way
to quickly determine how many directory entries are actually being
used in a folder.

Do you have the thumbnail view in effect for this folder? That is
very convenient for photos, but it does add a great deal to the time
it takes to open the folder.

Personally, with 6,000 files I would be looking to set up a system of
subfolders so as to make it easier to find a specific file or files,
but your needs may be different.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Guest]

On one site the main document-share is only 5GB in size, but contains over
112,000 files. The server was upgraded recently to deal with an issue of slow
folder-listings. I experimented with XP's indexing service to see if this
could improve matters, but surprisingly it didn't seem to do much good, and
wasted processor-time. The lowdown seems to be that there is no substiute for
plenty of server memory and good fast disks.

 

[jim evans]

Thanks for the replies.

jim