Friday - The Automatic FAQ Maker
As you read this don't forget these are limits - you don't need to work up to them (unless you like stressing your computer). Large individual files or very large numbers of files in a folder require a powerful computer is you don't want to be watching the spinning cursor.
Finder/Explorer is never too happy reading really large folders. Consider splitting a large folder's files into smaller sub-folders, especially if you regularly need to access the content from Finder/Explorer windows.
| FAT | FAT32 | NTFS | HFS | HFS+ | |
| Operating systems | All versions of Windows and DOS | Windows .NET Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 95 OEM Service Release (OSR) 2 | Windows .NET Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 support NTFS 4 and 5 (previous version of Windows NT support NTFS 4 only) | Pre OS 8.1 | OS 8.1 or later, OSX |
| Maximum volume size | 4GB | 2TB (although Windows XP lets you format only up to 32GB but can read larger volumes) | You can use 64KB clusters to achieve a 256TB volume (any volumes larger than 2TB must be dynamic, not basic) | OS6-7 = 2GB OS7.5 = 4GB OS7.5.2 = 2TB |
2TB (up to 21 volumes allowed) |
| Minimum volume size | Floppy disk | 512MB | 10MB | ? | ? |
| Maximum file size | 4GB | 4GB | Size of volume | 2GB | 2TB |
| Maximum files per volume | approx 65,536 | 4,177,920 | 4,294,967,295 | 32,767 per folder, 64,000 per volume. Suggested 1200 per folder | 32,767 per folder, >2Bn per volume. Suggested 1200 per folder |
| Maximum files per volume root folder | 512 files or folders * | 65,534 files or folders * | n/a | ? | ? |
* If you use long filenames, you will reduce the number of files per folder.
Question: OS File/folder limits (Win/Mac) [FAQ00002.htm]
Last Update:- 01 June 2006
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