AWS 95: Volume and Finder File Limit (10/93)

I have an Apple Workgroup Server (AWS) 95. I want to know if I can use a
hard disk larger than 2GB, and if the 32,000 file limit for the Finder in
Macintosh OS applies to the Finder environment under A/UX? If I have four
separate UFS partitions on a drive, and mount them all into folders in the
Shared Data folder, can each one have 32,000 files, and still be viewable
from the Finder environment?

System Volume Limit
-------------------
Since the AWS 95 uses A/UX it also has a 2GB file system limit, however,
you could have several UNIX file systems mounted to get around some of the
limitations of the Finder's 2GB limit. The Finder based AppleShare clients
can not. What this means is that in order to use larger volumes on the
AWSâ•©95 you must share partitions of less than 2GB as separate AppleShare
Volumes. Following is an example to help explain:

You could have A/UX and AppleShare Pro running on a 400 MB partition and
mount a couple of partitions of about 2GB in size. Although the total size
of disk space available is more than 2GB, A/UX deals with each UNIX mounted
disk as a separate volume, therefore not running into the 2GB limitation.
Do not share the parent directory of the mount points, share each one of
the mount points separately.

Finder File Limit
-----------------
For clarification, the maximum number of files and folders on a Macintosh
HFS volume is 65,535 while the maximum number of files in a folder is
32,768. Remember these numbers are maximums under specific conditions, not
for a practical implementation.

For the server client, the HFS limits for number of files to a folder still
apply when sharing a UNIX volume, no more than 32,768 files should be
present in a single directory (folder). We recommend 500 or less as the
practical maximum.

On an AWS 95 with the Finder running in the Macintosh process under A/UX,
the same limits for number of files to a folder still apply as the native
Macintosh Finder. No directory may contain more than 32,768 files, however
once again we recommend 500 files or less as the practical maximum.

Article Change History:
26 Oct 1993 - Included information on volume size limit.


Published Date: Feb 19, 2012