Max files per directory on NTFS vol vs FAT32

Question

What's the max number of files that can be present in a directory on a NTFS volume? Same question for a directory for FAT32 volume?

Answer 1

NTFS: There is no fixed limit. The maximum number of files is one upper limit. This limit is either 2^23-1 (according to many diver implementations) or 2^48 -1 (according to the MFT_REF structure). As you will have LARGE directories, you will see non-resident $BITMAP_ALLOCATION streams, a large INDEX stream. The index stream is essentially a B+ tree of file names.

FAT32: There is a difference between the root directory and sub-directories. The root has certain limitations.