/HEADERS=number-of-headers Specifies, for disk volumes, the number of file headers to be allocated for the index file. The minimum and default value is 16. The maximum is the value set with the /MAXIMUM_FILES qualifier. However, if /LIMIT is specified and no value is specified for /HEADERS or /MAXIMUM_FILES, the following defaults apply: o /MAXIMUM_FILES: 16711679 files o /HEADERS: 0.5 percent of the size of the current device MAXBLOCK (an F$GETDVI item code) For example, for a 33GB disk, the default number of preallocated header blocks would be approximately 355000. /HEADERS is useful when you want to create a number of files and want to streamline the process of allocating space for that number of file headers. If you do not specify this qualifier, the file system dynamically allocates space as it is needed for new headers on the volume. NOTE The default value for the /HEADERS qualifier is generally insufficient for ODS-2 and ODS-5 disks. To improve performance and avoid SYSTEM-F-HEADERFULL errors, VSI recommends that you set this value to be approximately the number of files that you anticipate having on your disk; however, grossly overestimating this value will result in wasted disk space. The /HEADERS qualifier controls how much space is initially allocated to INDEXF.SYS for headers. Each file on a disk requires at least one file header and each header occupies one block within INDEXF.SYS. Files that have many Access Control Entries (ACE) or are very fragmented may use more than one header. The default value of 16 leaves room for less than 10 files to be created before INDEXF.SYS must extend; therefore, try to estimate the total number of files that will be created on the disk and specify it here. This will improve disk access performance. Overestimating the value may lead to wasted disk space. This value cannot be changed without reinitializing the volume. INDEXF.SYS is limited as to how many times it may extend. When the map area in its header (where the retrieval pointers are stored) becomes full, file creation fails with the message "SYSTEM-W-HEADERFULL."