Your Music Library
- Thread starter ahoustondj
- Start date
I leave it alone mostly. It doesn't matter to me. Even when browsing, my files are not listed in alphabetic order. I have them listed in # of plays order, so if I type "jac", Michael Jackson's "Beat It" would probably be listed first, followed by all of his other popular songs. If I go to list of "Songs of 2000's", "Yeah" by Usher is probably listed firstor near the top. I love that. It saves a lot of time with scrolling through long lists. It also tells me quickly what version of a song I use the most.
I only ever change or modify tags at all is if I want to add an additional way of spelling or an additional word/phrase. For example, Kei$sha, I'll also add the name "Keisha". For Green day "Good Riddance", I'd also add "time of your life" if it wasn't there.
I only ever change or modify tags at all is if I want to add an additional way of spelling or an additional word/phrase. For example, Kei$sha, I'll also add the name "Keisha". For Green day "Good Riddance", I'd also add "time of your life" if it wasn't there.
I used to limit my genra folders to about 50. Odds are I am only playing the most popular of that genre anyways. But since my software now displays songs by # of plays, I don't worry about it as much, as the most popular songs are on top.
To answer the question - from a 'hard limits' point of view:
FAT
512 Files Per Folder
FAT32
65,534 Files Per Folder
512 Files for the root directory
NTFS
4,294,967,295 Files Per Folder
You will most likely incur performance based issues long before you reached the 'hard limits'.
'Under Windows, any directory with more than 2k files tends to open slowly in Explorer. If they're all image files, more than 1k tends to open very slowly in thumbnail view.
At one time, the system-imposed limit was 32,767. It's higher now, but even that is way too many files to handle at one time under most circumstances.'
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So Tigger, if I split up the folders into two or more - i.e. Folder Country has two sub-folders - dance (600) and ballads (250)...do I need to make multiple main folders or can I make multiple sub-folders within the Country folder as in dance A-L and dance M-Z?
Why complicate things? Depending on your BPM sort Order all slow songs should be seen at the top of the list of any Genre.
That's where the problem comes in Jim.
If you take a file from some folder, and move it -- you will fragment your drive. So you may have your 10 mb MP3 file scattered all over your drive. Then, when the read head is trying to grab the file, it has to bounce all over, to pick up the pieces.
I use DiskKeeper on all my computers -- it will not allow files to get fragmented -- it writes them contiguously. If you don't use Diskkeeper, at least run the Windows defrag once a week.
Technically, if you 'move' a file, you're only moving the pointer. If you delete the file and write over the space, all or part of the pointer is no longer valid. Putting a new file in its place will create the file in the old space (if it can all fit) or part of it in the old space with the balance in a new space (fragmented file). The second you slightly modify a files contents, it becomes fragmented. Moving the file will not fragment it - as you're not physically moving it.
More:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.11.desktopfiles.aspx
How Does Fragmentation Occur?
Fragmentation occurs because files change over time. Ideally, Windows files themselves don't change. Or at least they don't change very often—really only with service pack and software update installations. Otherwise, the system files remain relatively constant. After performing a large update such as the installation of a service pack, fragmentation will naturally occur since the files being updated usually cannot be overwritten where they are on disk—and may require a reboot to be updated—resulting in further fragmentation.
User files and data (and the Windows registry), on the other hand, are subject to constant change. Reading, writing, editing, copying, and deleting files all the time causes a great deal of fragmentation, especially as the drive capacity is filled.
To visualize this, imagine a perfectly arranged disk, in which files occupy space contiguously with no space between them. Suppose you open a file and edit it, and then you try to save it. If the file has grown, Windows either has to save the file in its entirety somewhere else on the disk (imagine after file N) or save the newest data after file N. This means file 2 is now fragmented. If you now edit file 1, you'll have two fragmented files. Keep repeating this over time and you will end up with a considerably fragmented system where the drive has to look in multiple locations to access an individual file. With large database files, expansive hard disk files for virtual computing technologies, and copious amounts of video and audio stored on the average disk, fragmentation is common. Of course, the ever-larger size of current hard disks makes fragmentation less of a problem, but it doesn't make it go away. And older laptops with smaller hard disks will become less and less responsive, slower to boot, and take longer to open and save files.
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