vincevincevince - 2:14 am on Apr 14, 2009 (gmt 0)

I don't know what these files are; but it may be better to use a database rather than individual files. Even small binary strings are fine in most databases; and these systems are designed to handle very large numbers of small records.

I don't think there is any limit on the newer linux filesystems concerning the number of files per directory.

Have you looked into cloud storage solutions? This may be your answer as they are optimised for immense numbers of files, and scale beautifully with your growth.