# Maximum number of files on a disk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [November 27, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/maximum-number-of-files-on-a-disk/154337 "2008-11-27T23:22:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/maximum-number-of-files-on-a-disk/154337/1 "2008-11-27T23:22:13Z")
Dear all, is there a way to read out the maximum number of files that can be created on a hard disk/memory stick etc., from Ruby ? I’d need to know this for ext3, NTFS and fat32 systems, and from a search about ext3, there doesn’t seem to be a general limit, but a number fixed at the creation of the file system. How could i get that ? Thank you very much, Best regards, Axel ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/maximum-number-of-files-on-a-disk/154337/2 "2008-11-28T00:16:05Z")
On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 2:16 PM, Axel E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > the maximum number of files that can be created on a hard disk… > for … NTFS and fat32 … For NTFS, the maximum number of files that can be created is 2\*\*32 - 1. I’d expect that the number for fat32 is similarly large. Hope this helps, Wayne * * * Wayne V. No Bugs Software Agile Ruby (but preferably not Rails) Contract Programming in Silicon Valley since 2001 ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/maximum-number-of-files-on-a-disk/154337/3 "2008-11-28T19:32:05Z")
-------- Original-Nachricht -------- > Datum: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:10:34 +0900 > Von: “Wayne V.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > An: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > Betreff: Re: Maximum number of files on a disk ? > Wayne > > * * * > > Wayne V. > No Bugs Software > Agile Ruby (but preferably not Rails) Contract Programming in Silicon > Valley since 2001 Dear Wayne, thank you for responding. I am writing to an NTFS disk, where I am splitting up a large XML file into smaller bits, which are saved as individual files ( and closed immediately after writing to them). The process runs smoothly until I get the following last correct output 49’000’000 # ← number of lines traversed in the XML file so far (print every 500’000) 1483042 # ← smaller files written to disk so far and this error: lbwiki2.rb:114:in `initialize': Operation not supported - /media/Philips External Hard Disk/en_wiki/Warnock's\ Dilemma (Errno::EOPNOTSUPP) from lbwiki2.rb:114:in `new’ from lbwiki2.rb:114 from lbwiki2.rb:85:in `each’ from lbwiki2.rb:85 In this line 114, there’s a File.new for the next small file to be created. The spaces in the file name are no problem. I am using Ubuntu 8.10 (32 bit) + ruby-1.8.7-p72. I cannot create any files on the disk anymore, neither with Ruby nor on the command line. This works again if I delete some file/folder. So there must be some maximum amount of files that this NTFS disk can handle, which is way below 2\*\*32-1 … What can I do here ? Thank you very much! Best regards, Axel ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/maximum-number-of-files-on-a-disk/154337/4 "2008-11-28T19:51:27Z")
Axel E. wrote: > > For NTFS, the maximum number of files that can be created is 2\*\*32 - 1. > > Agile Ruby (but preferably not Rails) Contract Programming in Silicon > > > > In this line 114, there’s a File.new for the next small file to be created. The spaces in the file name are no problem. > > I am using Ubuntu 8.10 (32 bit) + ruby-1.8.7-p72. > > I cannot create any files on the disk anymore, neither with Ruby nor on the command line. This works > again if I delete some file/folder. > > So there must be some maximum amount of files that this NTFS disk can handle, which is way below 2\*\*32-1 … > What can I do here ? I don’t know anything about NTFS. I’m just thinking out loud. I wonder if you’ve hit some kind of limit on the number of files that can be in the same directory? Is there some way to organize the files into multiple directories? ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/maximum-number-of-files-on-a-disk/154337/5 "2008-11-28T21:39:14Z")
Axel E. wrote: > is there a way to read out the maximum number of files that can be > created on a hard disk/memory > stick etc., from Ruby ? Under Linux: df -i $ df -i Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on /dev/sda3 786432 246411 540021 32% / Each file (and directory) takes one inode, so when you’ve run out of inodes, you can’t create any more files. > I’d need to know this for ext3, NTFS and fat32 systems I don’t know what limits NTFS and fat32 have. ISTR that the DOS filesystem had a limit of ~200 files in the root directory, but this limit didn’t apply for subdirectories. B. ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/maximum-number-of-files-on-a-disk/154337/6 "2008-11-28T21:45:43Z")
On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Axel E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > The spaces in the file name are no problem. Agreed spaces are no problem, but your file name is somewhat atypical. Have you tried with a totally plain vanilla file name? > I cannot create any files …This works again if I delete some file/folder. Sorry to ask the obvious, but are you out of space on the disk (or anywhere close to being out of space)? Also, Tim makes a good point about files in folders. Although NTFS has no limit on this, on older versions of NTFS, things got very slow if there were more than a few thousand files in a folder. That’s been fixed in newer versions, but it’s still a good idea not to put lots of files in the same folder. Good luck, Wayne * * * Wayne V. No Bugs Software Agile Ruby (but preferably not Rails) Contract Programming in Silicon Valley since 2001