Is there a subfolder amount limit?

[john_20_28_2000]

Is there a limit to how many subfolders a given folder may have?
Couldn't find it on Google. Thank you.

 

[Herb Martin]

Is there a limit to how many subfolders a given folder may have?
Couldn't find it on Google. Thank you.

In Active Directory?

Are you talking about OUs when write "subfolder"?

There is likely no practical limit (thousands to millions.)

 

[john_20_28_2000]

I just mean a folder and then subfolders, not nested, just like a
folder "mystuff." and how many subfolders can it have under it.

Again, not like mystuff -> next folder -> folder under that one-> etc.


Rather, mystuff->folder1, folder2, etc.; like C:/ and then a bunch of
subfolders.

Thanks.

 

[Ryan Hanisco]

John,

The limit here is dependent on the version of the file system you are
using. With the current version of NTFS, I don't remember there being a
limit. You'll want to Google the NTFS spec (or fat32 if you're still
there... ) for a confirmation of that.

 

[Herb Martin]

John,

The limit here is dependent on the version of the file system you are
using. With the current version of NTFS, I don't remember there being a
limit. You'll want to Google the NTFS spec (or fat32 if you're still
there... ) for a confirmation of that.

I have had upwards of 200,000 files in an NTFS
directory on Win2000.

I was abysmal to access but it functioned.

(A software program went nuts and did that -- just the
delete *.* >nul took something like hours.)

BTW, I have no real problem with people posting to the
wrong newsgroup but it is irritating and less help to those
who do so and then don't explain this was a FILE SYSTEM
question, not AD as the group suggests.

And also points up that the word "folder" is sometimes worse
than useless:

Admins should say "directory" when they mean directory;
share when that is the object, or OU etc.....

 

[Joe]

That's funny, microsoft documentation calls them folders. who is to say you
are right?

Folder structure
NTFS supports volumes with large numbers of files and folders, so create a
folder structure that works best for your organization. Some guidelines to
consider when designing a folder structure include:

a.. Avoid putting a large number of files into a folder if you use
programs that create, delete, open, or close files quickly or frequently.
The better solution is to logically separate the files into folders so that
you can distribute the workload on multiple folders at a time.
b.. If there is no way to logically separate the files into folders, put
all the files into one folder, and then disable 8.3 file name generation. If
you must

 

[john_20_28_2000]

Thanks. I just have a database that creates a folder for it usage,
tied to a given record, and want to be sure the folder structure can
handle thousands of folders.

Thank you again.

 

[Herb Martin]

That's funny, microsoft documentation calls them folders. who is to say you
are right?

Sure it does. But that doesn't make it a good or
extremely useful term to replace what Microsoft
said for years was a Directory.

Even the Macitosh DEVELOLERS call them directories
when programming or otherwise looking under the hood.

It is a term chosen to please the Mac users (in Win95)
back in the day where Microsoft was fighting Apple
seriously for market share.