This page contains some of the most useful information on the limitations of Personal File Sharing and AppleShare File Server for the Classic Mac OS. It vanished from Apple’s servers circa 2010 and is shared here as a public service to those still using the Classic Mac OS.

This articles has gone by several names over the years:

• AppleShare File Sharing: Chart of All Limitations
• AppleShare and AppleShare IP File Sharing: Chart of All Limitations

It has been posted at several different URLs, none of which currently resolve, including:

• http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n15460
• http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=15460
• http://support.apple.com/kb/TA21611?

Links within this article are to the Internet Archive, which is where we found the information on the page. The copy between the two horizontal lines if taken from Apple’s article and is under Apple copyright.

This article provides an overview of the limits for AppleShare File Server and Personal File Sharing.

Note: This document does not apply to any version of Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server. This document describes older AppleShare and AppleShare IP products, as well as Personal File Sharing in Mac OS 9 or earlier. For Mac OS X Server, see documents 107684 and 107323.

Table Notes

1. Depends on application and connected users.
2. 3000 instances of 346 unique open files.
3. 2000 recommended.
4. Mac OS versions prior to System 7.5 support a maximum volume size of 2 GB. System 7.5 and later support volume sizes in excess of 4 GB. However, because AppleTalk Filing Protocol (AFP) version 2.0 is limited to volume sizes of 4 GB or less, the maximum AppleShare volume size remains 4 GB. (see note below)
5. AFP 2.2 adds support for 2 terabyte volumes. Using AppleShare Client 3.7.2 or newer with AppleShare IP 5.0.2 or newer allows the use of these larger volume sizes.
6. Maximum number of connected users is subject to licensing restrictions. The maximum limit of 500 users is only available in ASIP 6.x and may require additional memory. For details, see article 24624: “AppleShare IP 6: Read Me“
7. Clients will see all the items on the server but the free space reported will never exceed 1.9 GB.
8. ASIP 5.x and 6.x utilize AFP 2.2, which allows for over 4 billion (2^32) shared files on a volume. In practice, the maximum number of shared files will be the same as the maximum number of files that can be stored on the volume. For HFS volumes, this is 65,536 files. For HFS+ volumes this limit will be significantly higher.
9. The limit of 346 unique open files is a limitation of Mac OS versions prior to Mac OS 9. Mac OS 9 and later support up to 8169 unique open files. AppleShare IP 6.3 and later, when used with Mac OS 9 and later, can support up to 3000 open files, all of which may be unique (depending on file usage by other parts of the system).

See Article 24601: “Mac OS Extended Format: Volume and File Limits”

Note: With AppleShare Workstation (client) software older than version 3.5, the maximum volume size is a few hundred kilobytes less that 2 GB. This was fixed with version 3.5.

For limitations on Apple File Services in Mac OS X Server, see the following article: Article 60064 “Mac OS X Server: Apple File Services Open File Limitation.”

Article originally created May 25, 1994. This version last updated July 8, 2004.

Copyright © 1994-2004 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: #personalfilesharing #appleshare #applesharefilesharing #appleshareip #applesharepro #applesharelimitations #filesharinglimitations #wallof10 #walloften

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