I asked for a citation of where the article author believes the number of files causes slowdown.
But you provided a quote from “Doug”:
Doug Eldred writes in with a concern about a form of file bloat—but not about bloated sizes. Rather, the sheer number of items that seem to appear on his drive.
[…]
Doug continues:
Those zillions of stray files don’t seem to consume much space, but tools like SuperDuper! and Disk Utility “verify disk” need to process each and every one of them in one way or another.
So, back in context, it’s a question that is being asked by a reader, not the author.
And, lo! There is an answer from the author that lays out his opinion on files causing slowdowns:
To my recollection and experience, the number of files shouldn’t
contribute to any system slowdowns, because they’re inert unless needed. [emphasis added]
The article goes on to be the devil’s advocate and explore whether or not those files could actual cause slowdowns. TL;DR: they don’t.
