Files vs. Folders?

[Keebler Elf]

From a computer management/resources point of view, does it matter whether you store files in folders or just dump them all in the root directory of the drive? I thought too many files was a bad thing because it makes the drive work harder but is the opposite also true?

 

[vavog]

Neither would actually make the hard drive work harder. Hard drive performance would only be affected by the fragmentation of the files being read and/or where on the platters the files are actually located. The hard drive itself has many performance factors but nothing you can control.

Manage your files any which way makes sense to you. But keep in mind with WinXP you're limited to 255 chars for the total length of the filename, including path name.

Hope that helps.