Benefits of multiple attachment directories

[Leemy]

I have several thousand attachments in the /attachments folder. I see in 2.0 we can configure multiple attachment directories, but I cannot figure out what is the benefit of this? I've searched a bit, too, but haven't found a direct answer.  Please advise. Thanks.
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[Arantor]

Performance and backups.

Firstly, backups - many FTP clients choke when there are too many files in one directory and prevent you backing everything up.

Secondly, performance - once you go beyond 50,000 files or so in the folder, performance starts to grind on that folder, especially on Windows.