"Source Path Too Long"

[Tirthankar Bose]

I'm trying to copy files between NTFS drives and I'm getting this:

How to resolve it?

 

[Exterous]

You could map a drive down the file tree farther so C:\folder\stuff\things\thingsandstuff\suff(new)\things(copy)\stuff_keep becomes X:\stuff_keep or you could rename it so the path is C:\folder\s\t\ts\sn\tc\sk

 

[Spungo]

Try using 7zip. The file explorer in 7zip supports long paths. That's what I use when I find myself trying to delete things that are "too long" to delete.

 

[Peter Copa]

Would suggest you to try LongPathTool once.
It would surely help you out.
Have been a user and have even referred it to others as well and never received any negative feedback.
Thanks

 

[ImpulsE69]

Try using 7zip. The file explorer in 7zip supports long paths. That's what I use when I find myself trying to delete things that are "too long" to delete.

I was not aware of this. Thanks, this should come in handy at work. We run into this issue all the time.

 

[Billb2]

Windows paths are limited to 255 characters.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Windows paths ARE limited to 255, however there's many caveats and scenarios where the path you are accessing is actually longer and then Windows chokes on it. What always baffles me is if it was done in Windows to begin with (let's assume just normal functions), then how did it get to be too long in the first place? It should have errored when trying to write.

I'll have to test this 7zip thing out and see if it works.

 

[corkyg]

The path includes the drive, the folder, sub-folders (if any) and then the file name. Don't assume that the file name can be 255 chrs. And spaces count as characters.

 

[Billb2]

The problem usually comes from copying or moving files to a folder that has a longer path than the original one - whiich Windows will gladly do.

 

[compcons]

I had this happen a lot. Sometimes I could go to a command prompt and rename the file or folders to get it working again.

I worked for a research company and scientists would identify files with names like "Experiment to deduce if corrosion inhibition is reduced with benzochlorwhatever complexes of iron - experiment 25 using 15 controls Revision 4.xls"

And THEN bury it in a folder path like RandD\2009\JohnDoesExperiments\MetalSubstrates\corrosioninihibitors\benzochlorwhatnot\experiments for JaneDoe\

I stopped recovering and renaming stuff and simply said "We talked about long file names and folder structures last week. I have sent 4 emails this month about this problem. We discussed it in your team meeting. You did it again. This one is unrecoverable. Hope you are a good scientist and kept your data of record in your lab books." They would then bitch and find an older file and rename it.