first off, thanks for your help.
in a narrow sense, profileid in no way refers to an image.
if you want to pick nits, then in the example i suggested, the image's directory can be DERIVED from the profile id. that is why i suggested it.
the only dates we store anywhere is the user's birth date. therefore, the date approach you suggested would not work because we don't store any information in a user's profile record to tell us when the record was created or when the images might last have been uploaded.
what i was really hoping to get from this post is some good advice about doing this...i wonder things like:
- how many files can you store in a single linux/unix directory?
- does storing a lot of files in a directory cause performance issues?
- does anyone have experience doing this that would suggest my previously suggested approach is good or bad? someone with more experience might have more knowledge about how to prevent orphaned pictures, etc.
