Errors when transferring files in XP

[Perryg114]

I am trying to back up a large quantity of files in XP and I keep getting errors about files names being to long etc. Both disks are formatted as NTFS so I don't see why there would the limitation of file names. Windows sees the first bad filename and stops the whole process instead of continuing and getting most of the files copied. I mean if the file if valid on the source disk how come it won't copy to the target disk?

Perry

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Long filename limitations apply to the entire path, not just to the filename itself. So if you copy a file from "c:\users\dave\filename.txt" to "d:\really\long\path\that\is\256\characters\or\longer\when\you\add\it\to\the\filename\that\you're\copying\users\dave\filename.txt" it'll fail.

 

[Perryg114]

So how do I fix it and what is the limitation limit? I need a criteria to find these files.

Thanks

Perry

 

[Coup27]

The mistake you're making is to use the Windows built in copy utility for large transfers. The problem with it is exactly what you're experiencing, the moment one error occurs, the whole process stops.

You need to use a program designed for large scale file transfers such as TeraCopy. Granted TeraCopy doesn't have the best interface in the world but it is far more robust than the Windows transfer and you will be able to transfer the bulk of the files and then it will highlight the errors which you can deal with one by one at the end.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

So how do I fix it and what is the limitation limit? I need a criteria to find these files.

Thanks

Perry

The path limit (path\to\filename.txt) is 256 characters. (255, depending on how you count.)

Just make sure that you copy your data to a folder on the backup drive with fewer characters in the path than the source. (Copy from c:\users to d:\users, or to d:\bkups\ not d:\backups\august-17-2015\my computer\backups\users)