What is the maximum number of CSV files I can merge into one file on Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 using ADF?

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I need to merge more than 800 CSV files that have an identical structure into 1 file on Azure Data Lake Storage GEN2 using a ADF pipeline. Up to how many files can I merge into one and what is the recommended maximum size of the output file?

1 Answers

Up to how many files can I merge into one?

There might not be no limit on the number of files that can be merged into a single file. The following is a demonstration where I have merged up to 10,000 files into one single file.

  • The copy data activity merge:

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  • The output:

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what is the recommended maximum size of the output file?

  • Since you are merging your files to store it in Azure Data Lake gen2 storage, this data lake storage allows you to store up to 5TB for a single file with few performance limitations.

  • According to this official Microsoft documentation for Best practices for using Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, storing many small files reduce performance (which is not the case here). A file with size greater than 100GB also reduces efficiency. Therefore, it is recommended that the optimal output file size would be something less than 100GB.

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