Content Based Folder Icon theoretical question.

[eil]

If Don has spare time, i'd wish to ask few things about mechanic of this feature(mainly /n and /t switch). The changelog has these mentions:

Code: Select all

        - Of course, determining that a deep branch contains no files can take a while. So 
          use this switch responsibly.
          
        - If such a CFI is defined and enabled, the (un)tagging of items will be a bit 
        slower than usual, because the folder icons in the whole interface have to be 
        checked for necessary adjustments.
        

So i'm interested what exact impact these switches bring on app performance?
- does /n add constant additional CPU calculations each time user changes location, or maybe those made only on some specific events?(which are those?)
- does /n make re-reads of all subs of every visible folder each time user changes location or maybe state of "having empty subs" cached somehow?
- does /t only checks tags database if it has items somewhere down the current path or it makes actual some actual file system's (numerous) reads?

Since i'm an I/O optimisation nerd, these questions really bother me. Plus, since the changelog has those notices, users should understand better what they ought to consider when activating switches = mere "work process will go slower" is not enough of a description.(especially for geeks )

[admin]

/n has to walk the whole branch to determine whether there are files. But this work is done only where and if the app determines that there could be any changes.

/t only looks at the tags DB. And again, this work is done only where and if the app determines that there could be any changes.

[eil]

if the app determines that there could be any changes.

But what determines those: accessed date, some system notifications, smth else?
User visits hundreds or thousands of locations every day - does app make some checks every time tab/location is changed?

[admin]

Paranoid?

Don't worry, the minimum requirement for these content checks is that files are moved/copied.

[eil]

Paranoid?

Surely i am, especially after several times losing important chunks of data due to "unimportant extra-re-reads"(like indexing). Back-ups aren't a panacea, so if smth adds noticeable HDD wear, i prefer to switch it off and save some another thousand working cycles over visual extra-comfort.

[admin]

AFAIK, checking the contents of folders only means reading the Master File Table (MFT), which should be mostly (i.e. the frequently or recently used parts) in RAM anyway.