Ron.Hollins@uscacm.UUCP (Ron Hollins) (02/24/90)
Question: Is there a limit to the total number of files that a
double-sided floppy disk can contain. (I'm NOT refering to the 40
folder limit). I suspect that the 'FAT' must have a ceiling to it.
If someone does know this 'magic' number , might you also suggest a
technique to trap for this disk 'error'. I'm using GFA 3.07
Thanks,
Ron,
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Ron Hollins == ...!usceast!uscacm!Ron.Hollinsbluneski@pogo.WV.TEK.COM (Bob Luneski) (02/26/90)
In <276.25E65B7C@uscacm.UUCP> Ron Hollins writes: > Question: Is there a limit to the total number of files that a >double-sided floppy disk can contain. The root directory of a standard floppy disk is limited to 112 entries. (7 sectors * 512 bytes/sector) / 32 bytes per entry = 112 Subfolders are limited only by disk space. >I suspect that the 'FAT' must have a ceiling to it. Not one that you can violate. The standard 5 sector 12bit FAT table has space for over 1700 data cluster entries whereas a 80 track 9 sector/track double sided disk has only 709 data clusters. >might you also suggest a technique to trap for this disk 'error'. You should receive a -36L DOS error code = Access denied if you attempt to create a file in this situation. ____________________________________________________________________________ Bob Luneski Diamond Back Support Hotline: bluneski@pogo.WV.TEK.COM Genie: B.LUNESKI1 The opinions expressed herein are my own and in no way reflect the opinions of Tektronix, Inc.
hcj@lzsc.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) (02/26/90)
In article <276.25E65B7C@uscacm.UUCP>, Ron.Hollins@uscacm.UUCP (Ron Hollins) writes: > > Question: Is there a limit to the total number of files that a > double-sided floppy disk can contain. (I'm NOT refering to the 40 > folder limit). I suspect that the 'FAT' must have a ceiling to it. > If someone does know this 'magic' number , might you also suggest a > technique to trap for this disk 'error'. I'm using GFA 3.07 > Thanks, > Ron, The floppy ROOT directory has 112 entries in it. Each can, of course, be a directory. Each of these is limited by the number of fat entries, which is to say the storage on the disk. A 720 K disk has about 720 clusters and if you assigned 700 directories (no files) you would surely fill it up. I suspect its the 112 limit that you are confronting. Howard C. Johnson ATT Bell Labs att!lzsc!hcj hcj@lzsc.att.com
ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (L.J.Dickey) (02/27/90)
In article <276.25E65B7C@uscacm.UUCP> Ron.Hollins@uscacm.UUCP (Ron Hollins) writes: > > Question: Is there a limit to the total number of files that a >double-sided floppy disk can contain. (I'm NOT refering to the 40 >folder limit). I suspect that the 'FAT' must have a ceiling to it. >If someone does know this 'magic' number , might you also suggest a >technique to trap for this disk 'error'. I'm using GFA 3.07 I think that there is a limit of 100 objects (files or directories) at the top level. I seem to recall, however, that in a sub-directory, there is no such limit. On the other hand, there is another limit that may get you: my experience is that each file consumes at least 1K of space, no matter how small it is. I think this means that a floppy formatted with 709K bytes will be limited to 708 or so files, 99 at the root level, and the rest in a sub-directory. I have never tried to pack such a disk, has anyone else? -- L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
wallace@oldtmr.enet.dec.com (Ray Wallace) (02/27/90)
In article <276.25E65B7C@uscacm.UUCP>, Ron.Hollins@uscacm.UUCP (Ron Hollins) writes... > Question: Is there a limit to the total number of files that a >double-sided floppy disk can contain. (I'm NOT refering to the 40 Here is an article I wrote for or user group's (NAVAUS) newsletter last year, it should answer your question. GGGG GG GG G G G GGGGem Alert GG GG GGGG Gem Alert, by Ray Wallace As you probably all know GEM allows you to create folders (subdirectories) to place some of your files in. This article will describe some of the folder and file limitations inherent in GEM. The top level (root) directory is limited to a maximum of 112 (256 for hard disks) files (directories are counted as files here). This restriction exists because the top level directory is created with a FIXED size when the disk is formatted. (NOTE:Disk formatting programs can be written to change these limits). Subdirectories on the other hand can grow as need, so there is no limit on the number of files that can exist in a subdirectory. Subdirectories are really just specialized files, and just like other files can grow in size so can subdirectories. One limitation to subdirectories is that they can not shrink, in the sense that when you delete files (directory entries) the subdirectory does not get smaller. On top of all of this there is also a limit to the maximum number of files a window will see. If you have more files in a directory than this window limit then you will not be able to see (or access) all of the files in a particular directory or subdirectory, regardless of how you scroll around with the scroll bars. --- Ray Wallace (INTERNET,UUCP) wallace@oldtmr.enet.dec.com (UUCP) ...!decwrl!oldtmr.enet!wallace (INTERNET) wallace%oldtmr.enet@decwrl.dec.com ---
matthews@umd5.umd.edu (Mike Matthews) (03/01/90)
In article <276.25E65B7C@uscacm.UUCP> Ron.Hollins@uscacm.UUCP (Ron Hollins) writes: > > Question: Is there a limit to the total number of files that a >double-sided floppy disk can contain. (I'm NOT refering to the 40 >folder limit). I suspect that the 'FAT' must have a ceiling to it. >If someone does know this 'magic' number , might you also suggest a >technique to trap for this disk 'error'. I'm using GFA 3.07 > Thanks, > Ron, You can have 112 files on the root directory of a floppy disk. Putting files in folders makes the number limited to free space. I'm not sure of the hard drive limit; older Supra software has a limit of 256, although I personally have seen 500 files on the root of a hard drive. The limiting factor is not the FAT; it's the directory space on the disk. I believe fopen() (or whatever GFA's equivalent is) will return some sort of error code (negative value, possibly -49 or -36) in such a case. Mike
dlh@raider.MFEE.TN.US (Dana L. Holt) (03/01/90)
In reply to the message about floppy file limits. I would like to add that the GEm desktop only allows 256 files. Just a little interesting tid bit of info.. Dana Holt dlh@raider.MFEE.TN.US