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The amount of files within a directory

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Hello all:

PROBLEM: Users attached to a Netware serve via Windows 95 are unable to open their departmental drive. They have 15,000+ folders on this drive each with x amount of files. My question is: Is there a limit to the amount of folders that can reside on a network drive? Is the reason the machines stop responding because there is a listing problem? Additionally, is there a limit to the amount of folders a Windows 95B machine can list? I would like accurate numbers if anyone knows them. Links to sites on this would be appreciated as well. High points because I need a quick answer. Thanks everyone!

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The amount of files within a directory

In reply to The amount of files within a directory

The Windows 95 part of your question is covered in the KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q120/1/38.asp
(there should be no spaces in the URL).
It states that you can have up to 512 folders directly of the root, but anynumber of sub-folders (limited by resources).

?? the root directory on a hard disk drive is limited to 16K: 32 sectors x 512 bytes per sector = 16,384 bytes, or 16K.

MS-DOS uses one directory entry for each file and folder, but Windows 95 uses additional directory entries to store long file names and folder names, and the associated 8.3 aliases. This means that you can run out of directory entries with fewer than 512 files or folders in the root directory.

Folders do not have a fixedsize, so the only limitation to the number of files or folders you can store in any folder with Windows 95 is free disk space. For this reason, it is best to store your files (programs and data) in a folder off the root directory?

The NetWare question depends on the version used. Look at Directory Performance with Excessive Files Document ID: 2917642 and Document ID: 10027197.
They can be found at Novell.com. (be sure to spell Novell with two l?s or you?ll get SantaClaus.com) (:?)
Hope some of this helps.

The amount of files within a directory

In reply to The amount of files within a directory

I want to thank you for the information you provided. The KB articles were spot on. I appreciate your help….Take Care….Ben

The amount of files within a directory

In reply to The amount of files within a directory

You don’t specify which version of Netware you are using on the server, but there are definitely directory entry limits. For Netware 3.x through 4.10 the maximum directory entries are 2,097,152 per volume; that figure is effectively halved by each loaded name space. Netware 4.11 has a limit of 16 million. Refer to Novell TID 1202046. You should also check 1) user object space limits 2) user space limits set at the volume level and 3) user space limits set at the directory level. Hope this helps!

The amount of files within a directory

In reply to The amount of files within a directory

This information proved very helpful as well. Thank you very much for your help. Take care….Ben

The amount of files within a directory

In reply to The amount of files within a directory

If you are using Netware 4.x load servman.nlm and look at the file system paramaters. Netware does limit some resources on a per connection basis as well as for the server in general. You may have run into one of these limits. Note that if you increase these limits more memory will be reserved for these funtions, reducing the number of cache buffers.
Although the theoretical limits on W95 for
entries in a directory may be quite high, there is a point where the transfer of a folder’s directory over the network is not completed soon enough to use.

The amount of files within a directory

In reply to The amount of files within a directory

Exremely useful information. Thank you very much for your help!! Take care…Ben

The amount of files within a directory

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