"File usage design" - store aplication data in home folder

[אנטולי קרס נר <tombackton gmail com>]

Hi,

I couldn't find advice on the web for a question related to designing
file usage of desktop applications (and gnome software in general):

Assume I have an app which allows the user create notes or tasks or
messages or similar pieces of text, usually not more than a few
paragraphs long.

I can store them all in one file or store each one as a separate file.

Clearly there are many advantages to storing them as separate files:
Faster save-time (but probably slower loading...) when just a small
update is made, separately signing and encrypting files, separate backup
and restoration, easy copy-and-paste manually from Nautilus or manual
text editing from Gedit, etc.

But let's ignore the technical issues. Assume I can encrypt and sync the
text even as a single big file. What are the pros/cons for having a big
file VS using separate files?

Example: Gnote uses a separate file for each note. GTG stores all tasks
in a single XML file.

- Anatoly Krasner