Don't attempt to create the data directory every time an ArbitraryDataFile instance is instantiated. This was using excessive amounts of CPU and disk I/O.

src/main/java/org/qortal/arbitrary/ArbitraryDataFile.java

@@ -73,7 +73,6 @@ public class ArbitraryDataFile {
     }
 
     public ArbitraryDataFile(String hash58, byte[] signature) throws DataException {
-        this.createDataDirectory();
         this.filePath = ArbitraryDataFile.getOutputFilePath(hash58, signature, false);
         this.chunks = new ArrayList<>();
         this.hash58 = hash58;
@@ -150,19 +149,6 @@ public class ArbitraryDataFile {
         return ArbitraryDataFile.fromPath(Paths.get(file.getPath()), signature);
     }
 
-    private boolean createDataDirectory() {
-        // Create the data directory if it doesn't exist
-        String dataPath = Settings.getInstance().getDataPath();
-        Path dataDirectory = Paths.get(dataPath);
-        try {
-            Files.createDirectories(dataDirectory);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            LOGGER.error("Unable to create data directory");
-            return false;
-        }
-        return true;
-    }
-
     private Path copyToDataDirectory(Path sourcePath, byte[] signature) throws DataException {
         if (this.hash58 == null || this.filePath == null) {
             return null;

src/main/java/org/qortal/controller/arbitrary/ArbitraryDataManager.java

@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 package org.qortal.controller.arbitrary;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.*;
 
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
@@ -86,6 +89,9 @@ public class ArbitraryDataManager extends Thread {
 	public void run() {
 		Thread.currentThread().setName("Arbitrary Data Manager");
 
+		// Create data directory in case it doesn't exist yet
+		this.createDataDirectory();
+
 		try {
 			// Wait for node to finish starting up and making connections
 			Thread.sleep(2 * 60 * 1000L);
@@ -127,6 +133,9 @@ public class ArbitraryDataManager extends Thread {
 					continue;
 				}
 
+				// In case the data directory has been deleted...
+				this.createDataDirectory();
+
 				// Fetch data according to storage policy
 				switch (Settings.getInstance().getStoragePolicy()) {
 					case FOLLOWED:
@@ -509,6 +518,18 @@ public class ArbitraryDataManager extends Thread {
 		}
 	}
 
+	private boolean createDataDirectory() {
+		// Create the data directory if it doesn't exist
+		String dataPath = Settings.getInstance().getDataPath();
+		Path dataDirectory = Paths.get(dataPath);
+		try {
+			Files.createDirectories(dataDirectory);
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			LOGGER.error("Unable to create data directory");
+			return false;
+		}
+		return true;
+	}
 
 	public int getPowDifficulty() {
 		return this.powDifficulty;