Max files per directory on NTFS vol vs FAT32

Question

What's the max number of files that can be present in a directory on a NTFS volume? Same question for a directory for FAT32 volume?

Answer 1

After a quick search on google I found these:

FAT32

• 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

NTFS:

• 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

References:

• http://ask-leo.com/is_there_a_limit_to_what_a_single_folder_or_directory_can_hold.html
• http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm

Answer 2

NTFS: There is no fixed limit. The maximum number of files is one upper limit. This limit is either 2^23-1 (according to many driver implementations) or 2^48 -1 (according to the MFT_REF structure). As you will have LARGE directories, you will see non-resident $BITMAP_ALLOCATION streams, a large INDEX stream. The index stream is essentially a B+ tree of file names.

---

FAT32: There is a difference between the root directory and sub-directories. The root has certain limitations.

Answer 3

The maximum number of files within a directory of a FAT file system is 65,536 if all files have short filenames (8.3 format). Short filenames are stored in a single 32-byte entry.

That means the maximum size of a direcotry (file) is 65,536 * 32 bytes, i.e. 2,097,152 bytes.

Short filenames in 8.3 format consists of 8 characters plus optional a "." followed by maximum 3 characters. The character set is limited.

If the filename is longer (Long File Name), it is spread over multiple 32-byte long entries. Each entry contains 13 characters of the filename. If the length of the filename is not a multiple of 13, the last entry is padded. Additionally there is one short file name entry for each file with long name.

2 32-byte entries are already taken by the "." and ".." entries in each directory (except root).

1 32-byte entry is taken as end marker?

So the actual maximum number of files in a directory depends on the length of the filenames.

Answer 4

With Windows Server 2012 R2, NTFS has exceeded 2³² (slightly over 4 billion).  I am currently running a document imaging server with almost 5 million files, as shown below.  I am running NTFS and NOT ReFS, which I know can hold 2⁶⁴ files.  NTFS on Windows 2012 R2 can hold more than 2³² files.

PS E:\> chkdsk /v
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Data.

WARNING!  F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
  4992768 file records processed.
File verification completed.
  27 large file records processed.
  0 bad file records processed.

Answer 5

I just tried to move files to a flash drive. I don't have a count but between 64 and 128 is the max that Windows 7 will do. W7 sugests that I put the remaining files in a new directory.