Copy problem - is there a utility to search for long path & file names?

[tmb]

I'm trying to copy My Documents to another hard disk.

XP Pro tells me about half way throught the copy that it can't copy a file
because the name is too long.

I think it is including the path with the name and there is some total limit
to the number of characters in the path and file.

MY QUESTION:

Is there a utility that will scan my disk for path & file names that are too
long before I attempt the copy... so I can fix them and then do the copy.

Otherwise, I drive myself nutx starting over after Copy discovers each
problem.

Thanks for any help

 

[Richie]

This may sound crazy but if you were to perform a search
for every file in your saved file folders only by using
the windows wild card "*.*" (with no quotes) you will get
a list to view, then simply shorten the ones that appear
extremely large, you may improve the situation by
collapsing the names by removing the spaces. I forget the
windows file name limit, I think it needs to be under 40
characters. Try to get into the habit of using shorter
naming conventions in the future.

Regards

Richie

 

[Maxx]

Question:
If there is a limit, how can Windows let you create a file that is greater
then the limit?

Richie wrote:
|| This may sound crazy but if you were to perform a search
|| for every file in your saved file folders only by using
|| the windows wild card "*.*" (with no quotes) you will get
|| a list to view, then simply shorten the ones that appear
|| extremely large, you may improve the situation by
|| collapsing the names by removing the spaces. I forget the
|| windows file name limit, I think it needs to be under 40
|| characters. Try to get into the habit of using shorter
|| naming conventions in the future.
||
|| Regards
||
|| Richie
||| -----Original Message-----
||| I'm trying to copy My Documents to another hard disk.
|||
||| XP Pro tells me about half way throught the copy that it can't copy
||| a file because the name is too long.
|||
||| I think it is including the path with the name and there is some
||| total limit to the number of characters in the path and file.
|||
||| MY QUESTION:
|||
||| Is there a utility that will scan my disk for path & file names
||| that are too long before I attempt the copy... so I can fix them
||| and then do the copy.
|||
||| Otherwise, I drive myself nutx starting over after Copy discovers
||| each problem.
|||
||| Thanks for any help
|||
|||
||| .

 

[Alex Nichol]

Question:
If there is a limit, how can Windows let you create a file that is greater
then the limit?

Creating in the current directory is one thing; copying to another
implies that you have room for the 'fully qualified' name of that new
version; path as well. A workaround (which I have not tried) might be
to use Command Prompt, use CD to get to the directory where the
longnamefile is, then give
copy longnamefile C:
(which only needs 3 extra characters for the C:\); then navigate to the
directory where you want to put it and give
copy C:\longnamefile

But really, getting to names over a hundred characters or so is not
sensible; they become not so much names as essays

 

[Maxx]

I never name files with such long names but some CD once riped and named
uisng online database can become quite long (Especialy classical music CDs)

Alex Nichol wrote:
|| Maxx wrote:
||
||| Question:
||| If there is a limit, how can Windows let you create a file that is
||| greater then the limit?
||
|| Creating in the current directory is one thing; copying to another
|| implies that you have room for the 'fully qualified' name of that new
|| version; path as well. A workaround (which I have not tried) might
|| be to use Command Prompt, use CD to get to the directory where the
|| longnamefile is, then give
|| copy longnamefile C:
|| (which only needs 3 extra characters for the C:\); then navigate to
|| the directory where you want to put it and give
|| copy C:\longnamefile
||
|| But really, getting to names over a hundred characters or so is not
|| sensible; they become not so much names as essays
||
||
|| --
|| Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
|| Bournemouth, U.K. (e-mail address removed)8E8L.org (remove the D8 bit)