Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!percy!parsely!bucket!leonard
From: leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: MS-DOS 3.1
Keywords: dos, bug
Message-ID: <1862@bucket.UUCP>
Date: 28 Dec 89 05:12:01 GMT
References: <1608@uwm.edu> <1844@bucket.UUCP> <10632@ucsd.Edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: Rick's Home-Grown UNIX; Portland, OR.
Lines: 25

steve@wintermute.ucsd.edu ({Darkavich}) writes:

>I have discovered that after using MS-Dos 3.1 for a while, that my floppies
>have developed a problem.  The problem is that the manual specificly says
>that the file entry limitation is 255 files.  every disk I have stops at
>112 files.  I cann't figure this out.  Is this a problem with 3.1 or could
>it be a corrupt version??  All help is appreciated.  

The "255 files" limit is a limit on the number of *open* files. And it'd
be difficult to get close to it.

What you've run into is a limit on the number of *directory entries* for
a root directory. The root directory of any disk has a fixed size. For
a 360k floppy that size limits it to 112 files. A hard disk has a 512
file limit. I forget what the limits are for other sizes of floppies.

There's nothing wrong with your system. You'll just have to create
a subdirectory on the floppy and stick the files *there*. Subdirectories
arte only limited by avaialable disk sppace. Do note that both volume
labels and subdirectories use up slots in in the directory.
-- 
Leonard Erickson		...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard
CIS: [70465,203]
"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools.
Let's start with typewriters." -- Solomon Short