How big can I append

[Alan Hanson]

I was wondering what the limit is when appending to sequential files.


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[Michael Mattias]

I know you can APPEND to files using BINARY access up to the limit of the SEEK verb, which is a long integer. Not sure what happens using sequential input.

Why don't you write a little test program, and see where and why an attempt to APPEND fails?

DataBlock$ = SPACE$(16384)
ON ERROR RESUME NEXT
OPEN "tesfile.dat" for APPEND AS #1
DO
  PRINT #1, dataBlock
  E = ERR
  IF E= 0 THEN
    FileSize = FileSize + 16384
  ELSE
    PRINT "APPEND failed when filesize=" & STR$(FileSize) & "with error#" & STR$(E)
    EXIT DO
  END IF
LOOP
CLOSE #1

MCM

[Lance Edmonds]

One note: the FILESIZE var will need to be at least a DWORD, and preferably a QUAD integer to measure the file size without worrying about overflowing the variable as the file itself crosses the 2Gb mark.

On my Win2K system (FAT32 partition), this little test app hit just over 2.8Gb when the drive ran out of space!

On a NTFS partition (10.8Gb free), it was able to fill the entire drive.

On FAT16 partitions, the limit will be 2Gb. On NTFS/FAT32, the file can be as large as the drive and/or O/S can support. However, random-access on a file above 2Gb will be problematic...



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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[Alan Hanson]

Thank you both. I also ran a test program but I stopped it at about
50000 lines which gave me a file of over 2Mb. This is bigger than I
need.

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