Question

Large number of files / Directory structure question

Asked by: burnsj2

What is the best way to organize a large number of files (and by large i mean about 1,000,000 jpg files).  Right now I have a directory called photos.  Within that directory is a folder for each userid.  Within that folder are 3 more folders called thumbnails, images, and large which hold the 3 different size variations of the photo.  Each photo is named after its unique photoId from 1 to 1,000,000.  So for example my directory structure for user id 10 who has a photo of photo id 1445 would look like this.

photos/10/large/1445.jpg
photos/10/images/1445.jpg
photos/10/thumbnails/1445.jpg

So my question is, does it matter that /photos/ will have 1,000,000 directories in it?  Or would it benefit me to do something like:

photos/1/10/large/1445.jpg

where /1/ is a directory containing users 1-10,000. /2/ could contain users 10,001 to 20,000, etc

Are there speed concerns? Will the directory get to big and just come to a screeching halt?  What is the recommended max size of files/folders to have in one directory?

I'm running on a big host on an unknown GNU/Linux. PHP Version 4.4.1.

Thanks.

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Asked On
2006-01-04 at 00:41:43ID21683177
Tags

files

,

number

,

directory

,

large

Topic

Linux

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
8

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Accepted Solution

by: slyongPosted on 2006-01-04 at 01:30:55ID: 15606225

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by: jleviePosted on 2006-01-04 at 05:49:50ID: 15607548

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by: chill633Posted on 2006-01-04 at 09:31:55ID: 15609622

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by: burnsj2Posted on 2006-01-04 at 10:02:21ID: 15609956

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by: chill633Posted on 2006-01-04 at 10:28:49ID: 15610219

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by: burnsj2Posted on 2006-01-04 at 11:24:27ID: 15610783

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by: chill633Posted on 2006-01-04 at 11:30:23ID: 15610834

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by: chill633Posted on 2006-01-06 at 10:47:45ID: 15631975

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