How Many Files Are On Your Computer?

number of filesFor Windows do this:

  • Go to the command-line: Start->Run, type “cmd”, and press Enter
  • Type the following, press Enter, then wait until it’s finished:

    dir /s /a-d c:\

For the non-technical folk, “dir” lists the directory’s contents. “/s” means include sub-directories, and “/a-d” means exclude directories from the listing.

You Apple and Linux people can post how to do it in the Comments section.

Post your total from all your hard-drives.

Here’s my work laptop. I’ll post my home computer’s tonight.

Total Files Listed:
339875 File(s) 33,966,350,671 bytes

About Jody

Family man, living in New Brunswick, Canada.
This entry was posted in internet & computers.
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62 Responses to How Many Files Are On Your Computer?

  1. Phillip says:

    I mere 61,422 files on my PC.

  2. tommyboy says:

    files….what are files…

  3. tommyboy says:

    I should have said..flies what are flies..just like the infamous…

    ..insects…what do you mean insects….

    to a generation of Nova Scotians this was a classic…think goalers…

  4. J-Walk says:

    Here’s another way that just shows the count (substitute drive letter for c:). It includes files and directories.

    dir /a /s “c:\” |find /c /v “”

    My results:

    C: 433,529
    F: 61,469
    G: 141,244
    ==========
    Total: 636,242

    That’s a lot of files!

  5. Jody says:

    “dir /a” will include those “.” and “..” directories in the count, which aren’t really directories. That’s why I put “/a-d” in the command – to not include directories in the count.

  6. Ashley says:

    Brute force count in *nix/OS X, I’m sure there is a better way…

    find / -type f | cat -n

    485,705 on this box. My other one has quite a bit more, I think.

  7. Phillip says:

    Insects?

    What the hell are you taking about, Tom?

    I’m from Nova Scotia. Am I supposed to know this reference?

  8. tommyboy says:

    Perhaps i overstated the knowledge base of this comment…it refers to an interview with one of the accussed during an investigation into sexual assaults within a family in rural nova scotia…..

    when asked about the allegations of incest…the reply was

    insects what about insects or a similar variation of this..

    ask your brudder perhaps you was too much of a youngin when this occured….

  9. Jim Kloss says:

    C Drive: 87826 File(s) 45,618,860,865 bytes (Whole Wheat Radio system disk)
    E Drive: 56287 File(s) 173,459,977,839 bytes(Whole Wheat Radio Indie Music Drive)

    Apparently I have bigger content in fewer files than files with the brains to distribute it…

  10. rekounas says:

    Total Files Listed:
    175103 File(s) 125,149,314,810 bytes
    0 Dir(s) 182,265,458,688 bytes free

  11. Ashley says:

    On my other box, this was, pure serendipity, the last file returned (with the count):

    1062663 /www/htdocs/young-nude-girls.png

  12. Jody says:

    125070 File(s) 107,402,010,347 bytes on my home computer.

  13. Phillip says:

    We are all so not cool.

  14. Rebecca says:

    How many files are on my computer? A metric shitload. I’m not sure how much that is in imperial measurements :)

  15. rekounas says:

    Here is what I have on my work laptop

    Total Files Listed:
    286721 File(s) 44,634,437,254 bytes
    0 Dir(s) 31,876,355,584 bytes free

  16. Pender says:

    I started to do this, but it would take much too long. On this puter I have 2 OS’s with 4 partitions, on another computer I have 2 OS’s on 3 partitions, and I have 5 or 6 hard drives in the other two puters. I’m not bothering to count up 8 hard drives and 14 or so partitions. Unless you pay me good money, not that drug money you always pay me with.

  17. Lea says:

    I have about 81,485 files on my computer.

  18. BJsMOM says:

    Ran a SCAN last night beginning at 7:30. It was still going at 1 am. Checked this morning and found 1115409 files were scanned on my computer which is less than a year old.

  19. Jdog says:

    My computer has a whopping 117266 files! (OK… that’s not much… I checked my bosses laptop and it has over 2mill.!!)

  20. Kroger says:

    this doesn’t seem right but i got 48,154 files.

    i cleaned out my computer like 3 months ago. so it’s possible.

  21. Danne says:

    On my laptop.

    Total Files Listed:
    192816 File(s) 57,240,367,241 bytes
    0 Dir(s) 155,208,019,968 bytes free

  22. Jody says:

    Update from my work laptop:

    278,040 File(s) 67,946,706,436 bytes

    Less files but twice as much space.

  23. Bob says:

    And so, some think doing a dir on a drive is slow. Currently doing a Malware scan on my wife’s computer due to McAfee Security Center not working.
    185,000 files and counting at 2hrs 10 minutes, and the software hasn’t even started the D: drive yet.

    Just wanted to say thanks to Jody. The DIR solution should have been obvious to any of us who started back at DOS 1.0!

    PS – 208,231 files 129,544,137,109 bytes on my C drive. Just wait until we all migrate to terrabyte drives and start filling them!

  24. mandy says:

    Total files listed : 64150.
    9 415 685 901 bytes.
    And does anyone know how to clean out a computer to get rid of crap that slows it down? I have an old computer and its slloooowwww…

  25. Steve says:

    Mandy… If you’ve tried a total refresh (drastic, but sometimes less time consuming than picking away at other things), then I recommend replacing your harddrive. One of the few mechanical pieces in any PC is the harddrive. It wears and gets less efficient. Sometimes, the only thing you can do to speed things up is to replace it.

  26. Jody says:

    Before replace hardware I would:
    - Use CCleaner to remove old crap
    - Use Lavascoft to remove adware
    - Defrag the hard drive

    If none of that helps, reinstall windows, formatting the drive first.

    Buying a new computer is often cheaper than replacing parts now – they’re dirt cheap.

  27. EcoRII says:

    135590 files…

  28. EcoRII says:

    but symantec antivirus already scanned over 278000 files and keeps scanning…
    …It is possible, right?

  29. kyle says:

    hi all you people wanting to know how to make your computer faster (yes i know its a bit late to be replying) try this website it did my laptop a whole lotta good :) runs faster than ever before. http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-xp-tips/99-ways-to-make-your-computer-blazingly-fast/

  30. TTL says:

    I have a little bit more than 900000 files in about 100000 folders in three partitions. Half of this is user data and half of it the operating system (Linux) with software. Except for start-ups with a filesystem check (5 minutes per partition), it still performs as fast as it was freshly installed.
    This can still be multiplied by two because I have a backup drive.

  31. Nick says:

    Nortan is scanning and has about 900,000 files right now and its still going.

  32. Corey says:

    You guys have nothing. I’m using just a personal laptop. 780,000 FILES.

  33. Elle says:

    Pleeze you guys have nothing on the me. 10 Hour Scan with MS Security Essentials and have more the 8,000,000 and still scanning. 0_o

  34. w100 says:

    2 entire days of scanning , more than 30 million files and it’s still at it. 400 GB of space taken…

  35. iSuck says:

    125876 files
    33,056,279,058 bytes

  36. mike says:

    Total Files Listed:
    161943 File(s) 362,438,896,830 bytes
    0 Dir(s) 120,854,843,392 bytes free

  37. anon says:

    I HAVE OVER 9000!!!

  38. kanapea says:

    I only got:
    138315 file(s)
    63638 dir(s)
    But my AVG security scan showed about 300 000 files. Why?

  39. Pender says:

    AVG probably checks files in archives. Not sure though. It may also look at registry entries and count them too even though they’re not technically files, it still scans it.

    Or maybe avg is lying to you because it was created by the government to steal your information and transmit it to our unseen alien overlords!

  40. Pender says:

    Work craptop:

    Total Files Listed:
    204651 File(s) 64,776,805,122 bytes
    0 Dir(s) 89,177,108,480 bytes free

  41. tommyboy says:

    when are the overlords coming..I really want a ride in a space ship..I have been hanging around cow fields for years no luck….it would be cool..except for the probe…oh yeah..the probe….

  42. Tom says:

    Omfg got 1,543,324 and still going.. stupid malware bytes full scanner :(

  43. Kiao says:

    Total Files Listed:
    263428 File(s) 352,401,556,020 bytes
    0 Dir(s) 142,455,451,648 bytes free

    Yay for files taking up space! Lol.

  44. paul cechovic says:

    I ran the dir…… and got 128868 files

    Norton antivirus came 7,050,000. Yes 7 million. 14 days ago Norton came up with 6.8 Million. But no virus found! Something is really weird about all this. Any suggestions????
    Thanks,

  45. Jody says:

    Norton’s count probably doesn’t represent the true number of files – it may skip system, read-only, etc files.

    The count could be different if temporary files were deleted or purged.

  46. Pender says:

    Norton also scans the files within archives, as well as registry entries.

  47. jacob says:

    not many on my computer only 93,447 u should have seen my old laptop it has 650,000

  48. Jody says:

    Time for another update: May, 2011 on new laptop at work:

    Total Files Listed:
    288316 File(s) 123,541,213,490 bytes
    0 Dir(s) 360,949,723,136 bytes free

  49. chris says:

    142,364 files
    173,404,668,197 bytes
    0 Dir’s
    16,718,000,128 free bytes

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