Emmitt, etal, For my money, as long as I am using a DB, I would also store the relative path to every file and not beat myself up too much over folder relationships, maybe using a numbering system and incrementing when a tipping point is met with respect to the file count (if you already have a large number of files, you could test search speed against count to get what works for you).
If the file location is going to be sourced from your db, the count won't make much difference, but to external programs it will. There are some pretty easy little snippets of code to generate the pathname of a file if you have a need to traverse the directory/file structure periodically to reaffirm the pathnames. Here are a couple of links relating to the NTFS and issues of capicity and look-up performance. Articles that you might find on "Optimizing NTFS Performance" that relate to WinXP also are relative to Server 2003. Also after reviewing the material, you might consider the wisdom of dedicating a disk/volume to the archiving process since this is of little impact from a cost perspective. <:http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/Library/8cc5891d-bf8e-4164-862d-dac5418c59481033.mspx?mfr=true> <:http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/tips/winntmag/optntfs.mspx?mfr=true> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Emmitt Dove" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "RBASE-L Mailing List" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 5:59 PM Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Saving Scanned Docs > It is still better than one folder with 20,000 files. Where the operating > system has a problem in my experience is with one folder and a very large > number of files in that one folder. > > > > Emmitt Dove > > Manager, DairyPak Business Systems > > Evergreen Packaging, Inc. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > (203) 643-8022 > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marc > Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 5:16 PM > To: RBASE-L Mailing List > Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Saving Scanned Docs > > > > Hi Emmitt > > > > If you had > > C:\ScanFolder\JohnSmith\ with 4-5 files > > C:\ScanFolder\BillyJoe\ with 4-5 files > > ... > > ... > > for say 5,000 customers / sub directories will that still bog it down > > since there are 5000 folders and 20,000 files under the main folder > > ScanFolder ? > > > > Thanks for all the help > > Marc > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Emmitt Dove <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: RBASE-L Mailing List <mailto:[email protected]> > > Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 2:56 PM > > Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Saving Scanned Docs > > > > Marc, > > > > Part of the problem is that when a Windows folder gets over some large > number of files, say 16,000 or more, the operating system's directory search > function - which all programs use - starts to bog down. Keeping the number > of files in a given folder to a manageable number can only help performance, > not to mention programmer sanity when trying to find something or diagnose a > problem. > > > > Emmitt Dove > > Manager, DairyPak Business Systems > > Evergreen Packaging, Inc. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > (203) 643-8022 > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marc > Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 3:35 PM > To: RBASE-L Mailing List > Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Saving Scanned Docs > > > > Frank > > > > How were you retrieving the scanned files when it was slow? > > I am using a File List box and double clicking on the file. > > > > I am worried my users do not know enough about computers > > to save the file in the correct customer folder. > > > > Thanks for the help > > Marc > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Frank Taylor <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: RBASE-L Mailing List <mailto:[email protected]> > > Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 8:50 AM > > Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Saving Scanned Docs > > > > Marc, > > > > We are scanning up to 5000 documents for our customers per month. Each one > does have a unique identifier, but when we used to hold them in one folder > we found speed in retrieving them was getting very slow. We now break them > down by month/year and put them in the respective folder of their creation > date. Since then things have gotten much faster and easier to pull up. So I > would recommend some sort of breakdown scheme to store them into different > folders. > > > > n Frank > > > > Frank Taylor - Information Systems Administrator > > F.J. O'Hara & Sons, Inc - Araho Transfer Inc. > > Boston, MA - Rockland, ME - Miami, FL > > Direct Dial - 617-790-3093 > > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marc > Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 9:07 AM > To: RBASE-L Mailing List > Subject: [RBASE-L] - Saving Scanned Docs > > > > HI > > > > I need to save about 4-6 scanned documents for about 5,000 > > customers > > > > Would it be better to create a folder for each customer such as > > c:\Scanned Files\Cust 123\ > > c:\Scanned Files\Cust 124\ > > c:\Scanned Files\Cust 125\ > > > > or > > Have all the scanned files in one folder ? > > > > Any suggestions on how to orginize 30,000 scanned files? > > > > I remember years ago there were limits to the number of files per > > folder but I have not heard anything about that the last few years > > > > Thanks > > Marc > > > > > _______________________________________________________________________ > This Email has been scanned for all viruses by PAETEC Email Scanning > Services, utilizing MessageLabs proprietary SkyScan infrastructure. If you > need assistance, please contact the Systems Administrator, Frank Taylor at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] - 617-790-3093. > ** REMEMBER NEVER OPEN AN ATTACHMENT UNLESS YOU ARE SURE OF IT'S CONTENT AND > SENDER ** > _______________________________________________________________________ > >
