How to sort 100GB worth of strings

Question

Given a harddrive with 120GB, 100 of which are filled with the strings of length 256 and 2 GB Ram how do I sort those strings in Java most efficiently? How long will it take

Answer 1

Sounds like a task that calls for External sorting method. Volume 3 of "The Art of Computer Programming" contains a section with extensive discussion of external sorting methods.