Too many files cf card

I keep on getting too many files when I try to make a new folder in the root directory on cf card 2000xl,have tried using 3 characters but still says too many files,can create folder on my zip and can create folder within folders on cf card but can't make a new folder any help ? It's 1gb sandisk card with half a gig free space.

Thanks.

how many folders are already at the root of the card?

I've only got 2 folders on there, and 25 direct entries.and it says I've got 672.1m free

Does this mean I now have to save all my beats within folders ?

On some of my direct entries I've used more than 3 characters when saving all seq and songs does that make a difference ? Thanks.

Jimmy Conway wrote:On some of my direct entries I've used more than 3 characters when saving all seq and songs does that make a difference ? Thanks.

yeah lamp is right, this 3 character thing is misinformation you got somewhere. Character amount will not affect files in any way what so ever, except for the fact that any filenames longer than 8 characters will be shortened to 8 characters (due to the DOS based OS IIRC). but having a filename with 3 or a 100 characters wont change how many files you can put on your CF card.

Ok the 3 Character thing was mis information,

The card is one 1 gb compact flash sandisk

Operating system 1.2

2kxl standard

Never used the card in a pc.just bought it new and formatted by pressing format in the 2kxl

In the type= field it says pc
was allowing me to make folders before but now just say too many files.says there is 672.1m left of free space and it does allow for me to make a sub folder but no new ones.

Thanks.

Lampdog wrote:512 entries max on root drive of the cf/zip/floppy.

I don't think that is correct.

FAT16, when using standard 8.3 short filenames, has a maximum of 512 root directory entries.

Once you add long filenames, plus the short 8.3 alias (if used by the OS), that can be reduced dramatically.

Considering that Akai seems to have specifically made OS 1.20 in order to format MCD cards with a directly Windows PC compatible file system, I think that it is possible that the FAT16 structure has been setup with space set aside in the root directory to handle maximum length Windows long filenames as default...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_filename

The long filename system allows a maximum length of 255 UTF-16 characters.
...
This is achieved by chaining up to 20 directory entries of 13 2-byte unicode characters each.
...
Limitations
Because the FAT LFN implementation is layered on top of an older, more limited naming system, there are inevitable complications, such as if an attempt is made to create too many files with the same first six letters. In addition, one is more likely to encounter issues creating files or folders in the root directory, since FAT16 only allocates space for 512 root directory entries. Since long filenames can use more than one directory entry, this problem may occur with fewer than 512 files or folders in the root directory. In fact there is space only for 25 long filenames of maximum length (512/20).

So, that Wiki article claims that on FAT16 there is only space for 25 root directory entries, if using full length Windows 255 character long file names, and Jimmy says...

Jimmy Conway wrote:I've only got 2 folders on there, and 25 direct entries.

...coincidence?

Shouldn't be very hard to test it.

Thanks alot for that,it makes sense now.