ACP Index File errors

[Hein van den Heuvel]

>> %RMS-E-CRE, ACP file create failed
What was the SECOND error line?

Could you create SOME files, but not other very similare files?

>> we were also seeing some ACP index file error.

Detailed message?

>> after we deleted and purged we were able to.

Besides running out of headers as discussed by others, one classic and often seen cause for this is running out of CONTIGUOUS space to extent a DIRECTORY to create an entry for a new file.
Some new files in the very same directory might still work... if the alphabetic name ordering leads to a block with space. Very confusing.

What is the largest contiguous free space?
What is the largest directory?
DFU can answer both questions quickly!

http://www.digiater.nl/dfu

>> is there any way to find out the total number of files on a device (without doing a dir/size=total, which takes ages)?

Yes... DFU REPORT


Cheers,
Hein.

[Mike Kier]

>our max here is 517,000 files and I purged a lot this morning - we now have 413,000 files

Another question you might like to think about is whether you really need 400K+ files sitting in the directories and occupying INDEXF.SYS entries on a single volume or if you'd be equally well served if they were in some much smaller number of BACKUP savesets, ZIP archives, or spread across a number of LD virtual volumes.

[Robert Gezelter]

Robert,

DFU is helpful, but one should not overlook the standard ANALYZE utility.

Among other things, file headers may be tied up in lost files. ANALYZE will also check a variety of file system paramters.

The OP does not mention the error message, which would be most useful.

Of course, the most consistent results will be reported on a quiescent volume.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

[Willem Grooters]

[quote]
Besides running out of headers as discussed by others, one classic and often seen cause for this is running out of CONTIGUOUS space to extent a DIRECTORY to create an entry for a new file.
[/quote]

Thought about that :)
The file has beencreated (!) but the directory cannot be extended (a directory file needs to be contiguous and if there is not enough space available, creation of the new file will fail).
Try another name, if this can be stuffed somewhere within the file, it will succeed.

If this happens, it normally means (severe) fragmentation of the disk. Your application performance will suffer as well.

@Mike Kier:
Nothing extreme with todays multi-Gb disks. But I agree that you could ask yourself if it is required to have these files on-line and couldn't be compressed in some way or another.

However, it's an idea if direct access is not a requirement. If it is, think about placing them on a logical volume, e.g. using the LD facility (same author as DFU). But that may require software changes.