The FAT system is pretty sad. I think what happens is that after a certain 
number of directory entries, the directory structure itself becomes 
fragmented. I guess I've been running for so long on an 8088 and then the 
last few years on a fast ( :) ) AT I've never considered speed an issue. My 
renum takes about 15-20 minutes in the wee hours of the morning, so I've 
never had reason to complain. I do have to defrag about once a year though, 
for it to work.
Having said all that though, I'd still vote for *.msg, unless someone can 
show me a bulletproof database system.
--- msged 1.99S ZTC
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