Path too deep error

[Richard Southwood]

I'm getting the "path too deep" error message when attempting to copy a large
folder (+200GB) from a USB drive attached to a Windows XP SP3 workstation to
a Storage Server 2003 R2 server. Seems that part way into the copy job the
operation will error out on a file. For example, it recently errored on a
file to which the full path to the file on the server would be:

\\nyc-nas1\AdAge Group\Creativity\test
1\AAO-2006-035\Source\MPEG\carphonewarehouse-accident06.mov_NTSC_6500.m2v

I understand that there is a character limitation, but to my understanding
this entire path does not exceed that limitation. Also, if I copy the file
individually it will copy to the destination just fine.

The USB drive is formatted as FAT32; the server volume is formatted as NTFS.

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Richard

 

[Pegasus]

I'm getting the "path too deep" error message when attempting to copy a
large
folder (+200GB) from a USB drive attached to a Windows XP SP3 workstation
to
a Storage Server 2003 R2 server. Seems that part way into the copy job
the
operation will error out on a file. For example, it recently errored on a
file to which the full path to the file on the server would be:

\\nyc-nas1\AdAge Group\Creativity\test
1\AAO-2006-035\Source\MPEG\carphonewarehouse-accident06.mov_NTSC_6500.m2v

I understand that there is a character limitation, but to my understanding
this entire path does not exceed that limitation. Also, if I copy the
file
individually it will copy to the destination just fine.

The USB drive is formatted as FAT32; the server volume is formatted as
NTFS.

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Richard

The limitation might happen on the target, not the source. Regardless of
this, if you use the latest version of robocopy.exe then you will not be
subject to this restriction.

 

[Don Phillipson]

I'm getting the "path too deep" error message when attempting to copy a large
folder (+200GB) from a USB drive attached to a Windows XP SP3 workstation to
a Storage Server 2003 R2 server. Seems that part way into the copy job the
operation will error out on a file. For example, it recently errored on a
file to which the full path to the file on the server would be:

\\nyc-nas1\AdAge Group\Creativity\test
1\AAO-2006-035\Source\MPEG\carphonewarehouse-accident06.mov_NTSC_6500.m2v

I understand that there is a character limitation, but to my understanding
this entire path does not exceed that limitation. Also, if I copy the file
individually it will copy to the destination just fine.

What happens if, just temporarily, you rename the filepath to:
\\nyc-nas1\AdAge Group\Creativity\test
1\AAO-2006-035\Source\MPEG\XYZ.mov_NTSC_6500.m2v
?

 

[HeyBub]

I'm getting the "path too deep" error message when attempting to copy
a large folder (+200GB) from a USB drive attached to a Windows XP SP3
workstation to a Storage Server 2003 R2 server. Seems that part way
into the copy job the operation will error out on a file. For
example, it recently errored on a file to which the full path to the
file on the server would be:

\\nyc-nas1\AdAge Group\Creativity\test
1\AAO-2006-035\Source\MPEG\carphonewarehouse-accident06.mov_NTSC_6500.m2v

I understand that there is a character limitation, but to my
understanding this entire path does not exceed that limitation.
Also, if I copy the file individually it will copy to the destination
just fine.

The USB drive is formatted as FAT32; the server volume is formatted
as NTFS.

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Reformat the target drive to NTFS. There are just too many limitations with
FAT32 (max file size 4GB, max files in a single folder 65k, etc.). Yeah, I
know: "But I don't have that many files and they're not that large and
that's not what the error message indicates, and yadda-yadda-yadda..."

But you're hitting SOME kind of limit which will most likely not exist with
NTFS.

 

[Twayne]

Doesn't look like too long a path; IIRC the max is 160 characters,
counting spaces and all punctuation.
I think I'd try making that last very long filename much shorter
(text.m2v or such) and see if that helps get past it. ARe there many
files with names that long? The "-" could concievably be a problem,
too. I've seen path too deep erros on excessively long filenames
before. Last time I copied them all to a DVD to get the automatically
renamed to shorter names and worked with those after copying them back
to the hard drive.

Just noticed: If you're using FAT or FAT-32, it's almost surely a
problem with the name using bad characters. You might try either using
the short-name for it (//nyc-na~1 unless there is a similarly named
file, in which case it might be ~2, ~3, etc..) , but I think the "-"
screws it up.

You might see if you can do something with it from a Command Prompt
too and use copy or xcopy to copy/move it.
Oh, and rename out those "-"s too; FAT/-32 doesn't care for those IIRC
again. Underscores are always safe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_file_names

Forbidden FAT characters (same as DOS):

a.. ! # $ % & ' ( ) - @ ^ _ ` { } ~
a.. (FAT-32 only) + , . ; = [ ]
a.. Values 128–255

HTH,

Twayne

 

[Richard Southwood]

Thanks to all for their input. I guessed it had something to do with the
limitations of FAT32 vs NTFS. My bigger problem, however, is that most of
the data that needs to be copied to the Storage Server is on LaCie terabyte
drives connected to a bloody Mac, and those drives are formatted in some sort
of proprietary Apple file system.

Doesn't look like too long a path; IIRC the max is 160 characters,
counting spaces and all punctuation.
I think I'd try making that last very long filename much shorter
(text.m2v or such) and see if that helps get past it. ARe there many
files with names that long? The "-" could concievably be a problem,
too. I've seen path too deep erros on excessively long filenames
before. Last time I copied them all to a DVD to get the automatically
renamed to shorter names and worked with those after copying them back
to the hard drive.

Just noticed: If you're using FAT or FAT-32, it's almost surely a
problem with the name using bad characters. You might try either using
the short-name for it (//nyc-na~1 unless there is a similarly named
file, in which case it might be ~2, ~3, etc..) , but I think the "-"
screws it up.

You might see if you can do something with it from a Command Prompt
too and use copy or xcopy to copy/move it.
Oh, and rename out those "-"s too; FAT/-32 doesn't care for those IIRC
again. Underscores are always safe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_file_names

Forbidden FAT characters (same as DOS):

a.. ! # $ % & ' ( ) - @ ^ _ ` { } ~
a.. (FAT-32 only) + , . ; = [ ]
a.. Values 128–255

HTH,

Twayne

Reformat the target drive to NTFS. There are just too many
limitations with FAT32 (max file size 4GB, max files in a single
folder 65k, etc.). Yeah, I know: "But I don't have that many files
and they're not that large and that's not what the error message
indicates, and yadda-yadda-yadda..."
But you're hitting SOME kind of limit which will most likely not
exist with NTFS.

 

[John John - MVP]

Network the Mac to the Windows PC and share the drive and you will be
able to access and copy the files.

John

Thanks to all for their input. I guessed it had something to do with the
limitations of FAT32 vs NTFS. My bigger problem, however, is that most of
the data that needs to be copied to the Storage Server is on LaCie terabyte
drives connected to a bloody Mac, and those drives are formatted in some sort
of proprietary Apple file system.

:

Richard Southwood wrote:

I'm getting the "path too deep" error message when attempting to copy
a large folder (+200GB) from a USB drive attached to a Windows XP SP3
workstation to a Storage Server 2003 R2 server. Seems that part way
into the copy job the operation will error out on a file. For
example, it recently errored on a file to which the full path to the
file on the server would be:

\\nyc-nas1\AdAge Group\Creativity\test
1\AAO-2006-035\Source\MPEG\carphonewarehouse-accident06.mov_NTSC_6500.m2v

I understand that there is a character limitation, but to my
understanding this entire path does not exceed that limitation.
Also, if I copy the file individually it will copy to the destination
just fine.

The USB drive is formatted as FAT32; the server volume is formatted
as NTFS.

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Doesn't look like too long a path; IIRC the max is 160 characters,
counting spaces and all punctuation.
I think I'd try making that last very long filename much shorter
(text.m2v or such) and see if that helps get past it. ARe there many
files with names that long? The "-" could concievably be a problem,
too. I've seen path too deep erros on excessively long filenames
before. Last time I copied them all to a DVD to get the automatically
renamed to shorter names and worked with those after copying them back
to the hard drive.

Just noticed: If you're using FAT or FAT-32, it's almost surely a
problem with the name using bad characters. You might try either using
the short-name for it (//nyc-na~1 unless there is a similarly named
file, in which case it might be ~2, ~3, etc..) , but I think the "-"
screws it up.

You might see if you can do something with it from a Command Prompt
too and use copy or xcopy to copy/move it.
Oh, and rename out those "-"s too; FAT/-32 doesn't care for those IIRC
again. Underscores are always safe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_file_names

Forbidden FAT characters (same as DOS):

a.. ! # $ % & ' ( ) - @ ^ _ ` { } ~
a.. (FAT-32 only) + , . ; = [ ]
a.. Values 128–255

HTH,

Twayne

Reformat the target drive to NTFS. There are just too many
limitations with FAT32 (max file size 4GB, max files in a single
folder 65k, etc.). Yeah, I know: "But I don't have that many files
and they're not that large and that's not what the error message
indicates, and yadda-yadda-yadda..."
But you're hitting SOME kind of limit which will most likely not
exist with NTFS.

 

[Twayne]

Thanks to all for their input. I guessed it had something to do with
the limitations of FAT32 vs NTFS. My bigger problem, however, is
that most of the data that needs to be copied to the Storage Server
is on LaCie terabyte drives connected to a bloody Mac, and those
drives are formatted in some sort of proprietary Apple file system.

Not sure I see how that's relevant. When data is coming via a protocol,
as long as Apple understands the protocol, it's going to put things in
its own file system, same as going in the other direction.

HTH,

Twayne

Richard Southwood wrote:
I'm getting the "path too deep" error message when attempting to
copy a large folder (+200GB) from a USB drive attached to a
Windows XP SP3 workstation to a Storage Server 2003 R2 server.
Seems that part way into the copy job the operation will error out
on a file. For example, it recently errored on a file to which
the full path to the file on the server would be:

\\nyc-nas1\AdAge Group\Creativity\test
1\AAO-2006-035\Source\MPEG\carphonewarehouse-accident06.mov_NTSC_6500.m2v

I understand that there is a character limitation, but to my
understanding this entire path does not exceed that limitation.
Also, if I copy the file individually it will copy to the
destination just fine.

The USB drive is formatted as FAT32; the server volume is formatted
as NTFS.

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Doesn't look like too long a path; IIRC the max is 160 characters,
counting spaces and all punctuation.
I think I'd try making that last very long filename much shorter
(text.m2v or such) and see if that helps get past it. ARe there many
files with names that long? The "-" could concievably be a problem,
too. I've seen path too deep erros on excessively long filenames
before. Last time I copied them all to a DVD to get the
automatically renamed to shorter names and worked with those after
copying them back to the hard drive.

Just noticed: If you're using FAT or FAT-32, it's almost surely a
problem with the name using bad characters. You might try either
using the short-name for it (//nyc-na~1 unless there is a similarly
named file, in which case it might be ~2, ~3, etc..) , but I think
the "-" screws it up.

You might see if you can do something with it from a Command
Prompt too and use copy or xcopy to copy/move it.
Oh, and rename out those "-"s too; FAT/-32 doesn't care for those
IIRC again. Underscores are always safe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_file_names

Forbidden FAT characters (same as DOS):

a.. ! # $ % & ' ( ) - @ ^ _ ` { } ~
a.. (FAT-32 only) + , . ; = [ ]
a.. Values 128-255

HTH,

Twayne

Reformat the target drive to NTFS. There are just too many
limitations with FAT32 (max file size 4GB, max files in a single
folder 65k, etc.). Yeah, I know: "But I don't have that many files
and they're not that large and that's not what the error message
indicates, and yadda-yadda-yadda..."
But you're hitting SOME kind of limit which will most likely not
exist with NTFS.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, March 06, 2009 7:44:02 AM, and on a whim,
Richard Southwood pounded out on the keyboard:

Thanks to all for their input. I guessed it had something to do with the
limitations of FAT32 vs NTFS. My bigger problem, however, is that most of
the data that needs to be copied to the Storage Server is on LaCie terabyte
drives connected to a bloody Mac, and those drives are formatted in some sort
of proprietary Apple file system.

Richard Southwood wrote:
I'm getting the "path too deep" error message when attempting to copy
a large folder (+200GB) from a USB drive attached to a Windows XP SP3
workstation to a Storage Server 2003 R2 server. Seems that part way
into the copy job the operation will error out on a file. For
example, it recently errored on a file to which the full path to the
file on the server would be:

\\nyc-nas1\AdAge Group\Creativity\test
1\AAO-2006-035\Source\MPEG\carphonewarehouse-accident06.mov_NTSC_6500.m2v

I understand that there is a character limitation, but to my
understanding this entire path does not exceed that limitation.
Also, if I copy the file individually it will copy to the destination
just fine.

The USB drive is formatted as FAT32; the server volume is formatted
as NTFS.

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Doesn't look like too long a path; IIRC the max is 160 characters,
counting spaces and all punctuation.
I think I'd try making that last very long filename much shorter
(text.m2v or such) and see if that helps get past it. ARe there many
files with names that long? The "-" could concievably be a problem,
too. I've seen path too deep erros on excessively long filenames
before. Last time I copied them all to a DVD to get the automatically
renamed to shorter names and worked with those after copying them back
to the hard drive.

Just noticed: If you're using FAT or FAT-32, it's almost surely a
problem with the name using bad characters. You might try either using
the short-name for it (//nyc-na~1 unless there is a similarly named
file, in which case it might be ~2, ~3, etc..) , but I think the "-"
screws it up.

You might see if you can do something with it from a Command Prompt
too and use copy or xcopy to copy/move it.
Oh, and rename out those "-"s too; FAT/-32 doesn't care for those IIRC
again. Underscores are always safe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_file_names

Forbidden FAT characters (same as DOS):

a.. ! # $ % & ' ( ) - @ ^ _ ` { } ~
a.. (FAT-32 only) + , . ; = [ ]
a.. Values 128–255

HTH,

Twayne

Reformat the target drive to NTFS. There are just too many
limitations with FAT32 (max file size 4GB, max files in a single
folder 65k, etc.). Yeah, I know: "But I don't have that many files
and they're not that large and that's not what the error message
indicates, and yadda-yadda-yadda..."
But you're hitting SOME kind of limit which will most likely not
exist with NTFS.

Hi Richard,

Macs can read and write to FAT32 fine, but can only read NTFS without
3rd party utilities. On one network I admin, there are a couple dozen
Macs. Using Windows Server 2003/2008, you can set up file and print
services for Macs:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc736837.aspx

But if you don't have a server, you can get 3rd party software to
read/write to NTFS volumes:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26288/ntfs-for-mac-os-x


Terry R.