[Post Toasties]

I wonder how much of NASA's other hardware is constrained by this type of OS limitation? Also, why couldn't the number of files storable on a given memory be a SW configurable parameter upon reset? Then, if it turns out to be an inappropriate size, simply change that parameter rather than have to rewrite and revalidated the whole OS, which is vastly more time consuming.

[Mannaggia l'America]

Also, why couldn't the number of files storable on a given memory be a SW configurable parameter upon reset?

It's not that easy if they are using the FAT filesystem. It's a hard limit.

The FAT filesystem stores the root directory differently than subdirectories. It has a fixed size and goes in a specific location on the media. Even MS couldn't expand it without breaking existing software (but the FAT32 and NTFS filesystems do not have this limit).

Now, if they are indeed using the FAT filesystem and ran into the root directory limit, they could easily solve it by storing the files in subdirectories under the root - the number of files allowed in subdirectories is limited only by the amount of space available.

[6ppc]

why couldn't the number of files storable on a given memory be a SW configurable parameter upon reset?

It has to do with the data type used to store the data, for example a byte (8 bits) is limited to storing numbers between -127 and +128, or 0 to 255 with no sign.