NT maximum files in a folder

[stephentbell]

Hi.

We have several folders on an NT4/sp6 server (NTFS) that have more than 150,000 files in them. The drive is an array (RAID5) and is a total of 585GB (all in one NT partition), of which we're using about 238GB (yes, GB). Each files is about 15k, so each folder is 2-3GB.

When browsing, it takes 4-5 minutes to open each folder. I assume this is because it takes NT that long to enumerate the files in the directory. (We even have a 95 workstations that hangs when trying to open one of these folders.)

What can I do to improve this? Do I need to parse the files out into more subfolders? Do I need to make the array smaller? Do I need to partition the drive into smaller partitions? Increase cache on the array controller (adaptec AAA-13xU2)? Sell my soul to the devil?

I can't find any info about this on the Internet. Does someone know?

 

[mcconmw]

The sub-folder idea is the way to go. I don't know of any official statistics, but I personally don't like to exceed 1000 files or folders per folder.

 

[burgdavid]

If you know programming you can also make a simple programming using the system call FindFile with wildcard search (*.*) - you may be able to get the real time the OS need to get the file info. I guess it's very slow because I copy in a structure in memory the attributes info of all theses files, and my opinion is that the windows explorer use such call.