How to manage many files?

[Molana]

Hi,

I'm using IMAQ USB to generate a snap shots every 10 seconds by using two USB cameras. After the program takes the snap shots, it saves the pictures in a folder. I usually run the program for a day. After a day, I generate about 17,000 22kb JPG files.  When I click on the folder to view the files, I often have to wait 30 seconds or more for the folder to open, and the system begins to run extremely slow after that. 
Is there a certain way to manage many files?  Can I do something to my program to prevent this from happening?
By the way, I'm running a 3.2 GHz P4 with 512mb of ram.
Any help will be appreciated.

Thank You,
Molana

[LV_Pro]

The problem is the 17K worth of files in one directory. One method would be to have your code create a new folder every hour, possibly naming the directory with the date and hour, then you will end up with 24 folders with 360 files per folder. I use something similar on projects that are going to run for a very long time, that save files less frequently than yours, but once every few minutes for 6 months works out to a lot of files too!

P.M.

[Molana]

Thank You. I'll give it a try.

Molana

[mikeporter]

You could also save the images in a database--would make them easier to find too...

Mike...