How many files can a directory hold

[Guest]

I have a windows 2000 server , which has a single 20GB IDE disk . The disk
has one main 16GB partition for the operating system and data files> users
are complaining of performace issues , I have noticed that one particular
directory has about 128,000 data files stored in it . This directory is often
accessed by the main program to store relevant data and I can't decide if all
of the data is needed by the program or not. Is it possible that there is a
performance issue when you go over a certain number of files in any directory
structure under NTFS?

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Al.

I know nothing of servers, but your question relates to the file system, not
the operating system, so the answer should be the same for server as for
pro.

A directory is "just another file" to the file system, so it can grow until
the space on the disk volume is used up. There is no specific limit,
although efficiency might deteriorate with large numbers of files or
directories.

For the official word, see the online edition of the Win2K or WinXP Pro
Resource Kit. Here's the XP version:
Size Limitations in NTFS and FAT File Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkc_fil_tdrn.asp

That page has a link to another page for "Optimizing NTFS Performance",
later in the chapter.

RC