ToneMonkey
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: How can I show >10,000 items

I have a USB drive that functions as an archive for my music files.

 

I'm trying to return counts on the various file types. I expect that I have >14K m4a files. Because Finder stops searching when it hits the 10K wall, I cannot get an exact count. Serously? I mean my iMac _IS_ a computer, right? It seriously cannot handle more than 10K results? I'm very disappointed.

 

Other posts instruct me to scroll to the end of the list and click a "More" button. However, I cannot find a "More" button anywhere in the UI.

 

Is there a way to override this ludicris 10K limitation? I tried running an ls shell command, but I cannot figure out how to cd to the USB drive.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Posted on Mar 20, 2013 6:21 AM

by Kurt Lang,Solvedanswer
Kurt Lang Kurt Lang
Level 8 (38,049 points)
Mac OS X
A:

How is the drive formatted? In OS X, with the drive as Mac OS Extended, a folder can contain up to 2.1 billion files and folders. How many it can hold isn't the same as how many it will display, but I can't think of any reason it would cut off at 10K.

 

If you want to run a list of what's on the USB drive in Terminal, you put in the name of the drive. So if the drive's desktop name is Music, you would enter:

 

ls /volumes/music

 

Which would show you the root entries. To show all files within folders, add the recursive command:

 

ls -R /volumes/music

 

With ls, -R is different from -r, so make sure to use the uppercase.

Posted on Mar 20, 2013 6:33 AM

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ToneMonkey

Q: How can I show >10,000 items

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  • by Kurt Lang,Solvedanswer

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Mar 20, 2013 6:33 AM in response to ToneMonkey
    Level 8 (38,049 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 20, 2013 6:33 AM in response to ToneMonkey

    How is the drive formatted? In OS X, with the drive as Mac OS Extended, a folder can contain up to 2.1 billion files and folders. How many it can hold isn't the same as how many it will display, but I can't think of any reason it would cut off at 10K.

     

    If you want to run a list of what's on the USB drive in Terminal, you put in the name of the drive. So if the drive's desktop name is Music, you would enter:

     

    ls /volumes/music

     

    Which would show you the root entries. To show all files within folders, add the recursive command:

     

    ls -R /volumes/music

     

    With ls, -R is different from -r, so make sure to use the uppercase.

  • by ToneMonkey,

    ToneMonkey ToneMonkey Mar 20, 2013 6:58 AM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 20, 2013 6:58 AM in response to Kurt Lang

    Thanks Kurt. I probably didn't describe the problem as clearly as I thought I did. The issue is not the number of files the drive will hold, the issue is the number of search results Finder shows. It shops at 10K, with a status message of "More than 10,000 items." I need a more precise answer than that.

     

    Thanks for the path info. That unstuck me. Much appreciated.

     

    In case someone else needs this info, here's how I got shell to give me what I needed:

     

    cd "/volumes/Music Archive"

    ls -R | grep -c "m4a"

     

    Easy peasy. Many thanks!

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Mar 20, 2013 7:23 AM in response to ToneMonkey
    Level 8 (38,049 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 20, 2013 7:23 AM in response to ToneMonkey

    It shops at 10K, with a status message of "More than 10,000 items." I need a more precise answer than that.

    Your initial post was indeed clear. I've never heard of the OS stopping at 10K items. But you're obviously getting a message which says just that.

     

    Using cd along with /volumes/ is a way to move to another volume, though you can list it without moving to that drive first as I showed above. As you found, your drive has a space in the name, so you have to surround the path with quotes.

     

    Another way to redirect output would be this:

     

    ls -R "/volumes/Music Archive" > ~/Desktop music.txt

     

    This will create a text file of the list output onto your desktop in a text document named music.txt