CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windows-7
Pradeep
Pradeep

Reputation: 3468

Windows' limit on the number of files in a particular folder

I am in a doubt whether this is a right place for this question.. I want to know if windows 7 or xp has any limit on no. of files within particular folder?

Upvotes: 32

Views: 57552

Answers (2)

Eduardo Cuomo
Eduardo Cuomo

Reputation: 19006

There's no practical limit on the combined sizes of all the files in a folder, though there may be limits on the number of files in a folder. More importantly, there are limits on individual file size that depend on what filesystem you're using on your hard disk. (The "filesystem" is nothing more than the specification of exactly how files are store on disk.)

Let's break this down by file system:

FAT aka FAT16

FAT, for File Allocation Table, is the successor to the original FAT12 filesystem that shipped with MS-DOS many, many years ago.

  • Maximum disk size: 4 gigabytes
  • Maximum file size: 4 gigabytes
  • Maximum number of files on disk: 65,517
  • Maximum number of files in a single folder: 512 (if I recall correctly, the root folder "/" had a lower limit of 128).
  • Max filename length: 8 characters as filename and 3 characters for extension, meaning the total filename length is 12 characters including the period and extension

FAT32

"There's no practical limit on the combined sizes of all the files in a folder, though there may be limits on the number of files in a folder."FAT32 was introduced to overcome some of the limitations of FAT16.

  • Maximum disk size: 2 terabytes
  • Maximum file size: 4 gigabytes
  • Maximum number of files on disk: 268,435,437
  • Maximum number of files in a single folder: 65,534
  • Max filename length: 8 characters as filename and 3 characters for extension, meaning the total filename length is 12 characters including the period and extension

NTFS

NTFS, or "New Technology File System" introduced with Windows NT, is a completely redesigned file system.

  • Maximum disk size: 256 terabytes
  • Maximum file size: 256 terabytes
  • Maximum number of files on disk: 4,294,967,295
  • Maximum number of files in a single folder: 4,294,967,295
  • Max filename length: 255 characters

Note that when I say "disk" above, I'm really talking about "logical" disks, not necessarily physical. No one makes a 256 terabyte disk drive, but using NTFS you can treat an array of disk drives as a single logical disk. Presumably if you have enough of them, you can build a huge logical drive.

Also note that the NTFS's 256 terabyte limitation may well simply be an implementation restriction - I've read that the NTFS format can support disks up to 16 exabytes (16 times 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes).

exFAT

  • Maximum disk size: 128 petabytes (PB), with a recommended maximum of 512 terabytes (TB).
  • Maximum file size: 16 exabytes (EB). However, the practical limit is 128 petabytes (128PB)
  • Maximum number of files in a single folder: 2,796,202
  • Max filename length: 255 characters

Sources:

Upvotes: 52

GuillermoMA
GuillermoMA

Reputation: 115

According to this source, there's not limit per folder. Well, the limit is the same number of files you can store in the volume (NTFS).

Edit: Microsoft link, as pointed in Serverfault.

Upvotes: 2

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