No. One directory per date, one file per message named for the time (to the minute; hence the 1440) of the action + disambiguator. This was based upon the assumption that your "several hundred thousand" figure would be spread across several days. 

20051103 - 0502.xxx1
           0502.xxx2
           0503.xxx1
           0503.xxx2
           0505.xxx1
           0506.xxx1
20051104 - ...

[download]

If I was misreading you, and your mean several hundred thousand per day, and daily directories would be too big, then I'd sub-divide them into hours 

20051103 - 00
         - 01
         ....
         - 23 - 5901.xxx1
              - 5901.xxx2
              - 5902.xxx1

[download]

I guess you could go to minutes, if required to keep the final directory sizes small for searching. Having 1440 subdirs in a directory isn't a problem as you are never searching that space, just going through it with a hard-coded path.

I'd stick to one record per file, to avoid the need for using (cooperative) locking, as it only takes for someone to use a non-cooperating utility at an inappropriate moment to create a dealock situation.

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

In reply to Re^3: Persistent timed events by BrowserUk
in thread Persistent timed events by tirwhan

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