If MusicBee doesn't play a trick on my my library currently spans 121.000+ songs (9.137 albums -> 1.558 GBs). I started collecting digital music in 2005 to have it with me when traveling. I'm not realizing that my 9.000+ CDs collection is practically outdated.
I'm running two external hard drives of 2TB each (drives F:\ and G:\). I have two more discs for monthly backups. This works well for me. As for the sorting I'm strictly going by either the artist's last name, or the band's main name (suppressing "The" in front of a band name). So this would look like this:
F:\Artists from A to L
G:\Artists from M to Z
Example:
G: \ (...)
\Rodgers, Kenny
\Rolling Stones, The
\Ronstandt, Linda
\Rose Royce
Within an artist's/band's folder I go by the year if more than one album is available:
Year - Artist - Album name:
1975 - The Rolling Stones - It's Only Rock'n'Roll
1975 - The Rolling Stones - Black and Blue
(etc.)
On top of that I'm taking care that all my files are neatly tagged. In most cases I even take the time to tag the composers, producers, label, catalog number, etc. I guess I'm a freak too