error on copying large amount of files

[Guest]

so this is such a stupid error, I can't believe it still
exists. Let's say I;m backing up my 'my documents'
folder and all it's contents, to a server someplace. I
simply drag and drop all the files, folders, etc, to the
new remote folder. It's ctarts copying the files. Now,
somewhere in this giant mess, there is are some file
names that are way too long. so Windows pops out an
error message saying it can;t copy it. And when i
say 'OK', IT STOPS COPYING THE REMAINING FILES AND
FOLDERS. what's up with that, how can I get around it
(without having to find and rename all the long file
names.)

 

[Sharon F]

so this is such a stupid error, I can't believe it still
exists. Let's say I;m backing up my 'my documents'
folder and all it's contents, to a server someplace. I
simply drag and drop all the files, folders, etc, to the
new remote folder. It's ctarts copying the files. Now,
somewhere in this giant mess, there is are some file
names that are way too long. so Windows pops out an
error message saying it can;t copy it. And when i
say 'OK', IT STOPS COPYING THE REMAINING FILES AND
FOLDERS. what's up with that, how can I get around it
(without having to find and rename all the long file
names.)

All the versions of Windows that I've used do the same thing. Re-select the
files. Hold Ctrl to deselect the file(s) that won't copy. Start the copy
over. Say yes (or no) to replace the files that have already been copied.

 

[Guest]

I am having the same copy problem with an error message that files have to long a name. I read the post but I am not sure as it is a solution as I do not know what files or folders are the problem. Could someone add a little more explanation to the post?

 

[Sharon F]

I am having the same copy problem with an error message that files have
to long a name. I read the post but I am not sure as it is a solution
as I do not know what files or folders are the problem. Could someone
add a little more explanation to the post?

When moving, it's a lot easier to find the "problem." It's usually the
first name in the list of files that did not copy. A little tougher when
copying files. This is my preference for file work too. Deleting source
files after a copy has completed is a logical choice. It avoids the loss of
files when a transfer decides to head south: locks up, fails for any
reason, etc.

Since your error message is talking about long file names, select to copy
the files that don't have extremely long file names first. When that has
completed, select small groups of the longer named files to copy.
Eventually, you will get to the file(s) that are giving you trouble. You
may want to re-think your folder structure and/or naming conventions if
this is a problem that you regularly face.

I've had things setup perfectly for hard drive to hard drive, only to run
into limitations with burning software. I've revamped my filing based on
those limitations so that backups (and restoring from backups) will produce
consistent results.

 

[Guest]

Sharon, Thank you for the expanded explanation. To find the "long file name" files, I have to rerun the copy as it does not give any option other than to respond OK to the error message and then quit. It would seem to me that Microsoft should fix this problem with at least a "skip" option so I could obtain all the culperts at one copy session. Is there a way to submit this problem to get Microsoft to address this issue
One other question: how long can a file name be before this problrm is encountered
Again I appreciate your help.

 

[Sharon F]

Sharon, Thank you for the expanded explanation. To find the "long file
name" files, I have to rerun the copy as it does not give any option
other than to respond OK to the error message and then quit. It would
seem to me that Microsoft should fix this problem with at least a "skip"
option so I could obtain all the culperts at one copy session. Is there
a way to submit this problem to get Microsoft to address this issue? One
other question: how long can a file name be before this problrm is
encountered? Again I appreciate your help.

I've never seen the stated limit for filenames/paths when using NTFS with
XP. FAT32 and most programs have a limit of 255 characters. While that's
the stated limit, about 240 is more realistic. When backing up to CD, there
will be a possible limitation within the burning program and definitely one
with the file system used for the type of burning that is taking place.

The following article talks about some situations where path limitations
will come into play:
You Cannot Delete a File or a Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320081

 

[Guest]

Sharon, The article you sited helps some but is VERY technical for this user. A little more detail follows on what I am doing. I have a Dell 8100 desktop(Home XP,FAT32) and a newer Dell laptop 8600(Home XP,NTFS) both on a home network(Linksys Hwd). The 8100 has a LARGE set of files(embroidery files) on the hard drive that are in a master folder(approx 5 GB). I am using copy to transfer all the files from the 8100 hard drive to the 8600 hard drive. This is when I get into the "long file name" problem. I have been able to locate the "long file name" problem files one at a time and shorten the names on the 8100 but it takes a lot of time since the copy aborts when it hits a problem file.
This is why I was asking about a skip option that would let me get all the problem files in one setting. This process of transfering will be done mant times as my wife adds embroidery files to the master.

 

[Sharon F]

Sharon, The article you sited helps some but is VERY technical for this
user. A little more detail follows on what I am doing. I have a Dell
8100 desktop(Home XP,FAT32) and a newer Dell laptop 8600(Home XP,NTFS)
both on a home network(Linksys Hwd). The 8100 has a LARGE set of
files(embroidery files) on the hard drive that are in a master
folder(approx 5 GB). I am using copy to transfer all the files from the
8100 hard drive to the 8600 hard drive. This is when I get into the
"long file name" problem. I have been able to locate the "long file
name" problem files one at a time and shorten the names on the 8100 but
it takes a lot of time since the copy aborts when it hits a problem
file. This is why I was asking about a skip option that would let me
get all the problem files in one setting. This process of transfering
will be done mant times as my wife adds embroidery files to the master.

XP will default to storing most data files under a user's profile. Because
of this, you start out right away with a pretty long path/file name
(..\Documents and Settings\ etc).

Suggestion: Create a folder on your hard drive named Patterns or EMB (short
for Embroidery). Move your pattern files to that folder. Even if you go a
step further - creating subfolders within EMB (or Patterns) to categorize
your files - you will still have a lot of characters leftover before
hitting the ~255 character limit.