Labels VS Dircetories...

[bzsolt]

Is this storing-in-directory solution outdated?

When I first saw this label thing in Google's mail I found it strange.

Now I start to think it is better. Why do we need directories? There can be queries for all the keywords=labels.

I know that in PP I can put photos in several directories. But this increases disk usage (am I right?), so labels seem to me more elegant.

Does the speed matter? Let's say I have a site with nice traffic and 5 million photos all in one single directory. Would the server be faster if these were in 5 or 10 or 100 directories?

[Chuck S]

It would be faster with 100 directories naturally

[bzsolt]

Why? I really don't know.

[Chuck S]

Because 10000 files say in one directory is slower to access than say 1000 files in 10 directories or 100 files in 100 directories. It is how things work. Much like access times are faster usually on 2 smaller databases than 1 large one.

[bzsolt]

do you think these rules apply to googles' tools too?

[Chuck S]

Not familiar with google tools but disk access and database access times are as I have stated. Only a specific of number of files can exist in one directory before you see decreased performance. One of the reasons we went with specific directories for thumbs mediums etc placing them in their own directories versus all 3 files in one directory