Max # of files per directory?

[techmonkey]

I've seen mention in a couple places that it is not good to have a huge number of files in one directory. One of these places was a Web host who said that for effective backups - its best to not have more than a couple thousand files in a directory.

Anyone have more info on this? Is there a number that can be used as a guideline for max files per directory? Or does it even really matter at all?

[Betcour]

Anyone have more info on this? Is there a number that can be used as a guideline for max files per directory? Or does it even really matter at all?

It really depends of the operating system (and the underlying filesystem choosen). Some start to slow down at 500 files, others will handle 10000 files without much problem.

[fillup07]

Well, does anyone know a good estimate for some of the most common os's?

[newdles]

I'm unsure of reasons of database purposes but I have over 22,000 dll files on my web server here at the house which are all in a single directory. They are all dll files that you find when you search on http://dll.webzila.com. However, opening that folder takes a few seconds longer than normal

Hope this is helpful information.

[Betcour]

I have a folder in Windows with a few 1000s subfolders and it takes forever to process