Transfering Files

matt4x4 · Mar 30, 2016

I am trying to transfer folders and files from an old hard drive, to a new SSD hard drive.

The particular folder transfer says 147 files are too long. All the files have the same words = Name Timesheet then a long date. States that the file names are too long.

I went folder for folder transferring everything over. It all comes down to one Folder called Invoices which itself has 6 sub-folders, but I transferred it all over except this folder "1. monthly timesheets for year 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, to August 25, 2012" I believe within this folder is 147 files.

An odd thing about this is, if I click properties on both windows. SSD is 302 files, 119 folders, old HD is 362 files 103 folders.

This does not add up.

I think perhaps the folder itself name is too long, or are the file names within that folder too long.
I added a picture. I hope it helps. I've been pondering what to do about this for some time. I am stuck, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

matt4x4 · Mar 30, 2016

I think I completed the task correctly. I was thinking about Batch Renaming with Irfan View, it seems complicated. I use that for sizing pictures for use in forums.

Left side of picture is old, right side is new.

matt4x4 · Mar 30, 2016

I think I completed the task correctly. I was thinking about Batch Renaming with Irfan View, that program seems complicated doing that task. I use that program for resizing pictures for use in forums. I have used other Batch Renaming before with a different program and it seemed much easier.

Left side of picture is new, right side is old original. Its very odd because every time I save it, the files and folders change in total number. Always very close. First time the actual size in bytes never changed but the total number of files and total number of folders were slightly off. Now its very very very close, but that folder is not crucial.

I manually changed some folders which knocked it down to 60 files that needed to be shortened.

Anyway, there was really no need, that folder is not crucial. The crucial folder is an exact match, bytes, files and folders. This has been a learning experience.

My only question is; If there is a limit to folder name character size, whats the number of characters?

ilikefree · Apr 1, 2016

My only question is; If there is a limit to folder name character size, whats the number of characters?

Answer:260

virtual6 · Apr 1, 2016

My only question is; If there is a limit to folder name character size, whats the number of characters?

To be more specific, the entire path name, which includes the drive letter, folders, and file, can be 260 characters.
There are some ways around this limitation.

What program/method did you use for your file copies?
The Windows drag/drop is crude, it does not preserve the original source directory/file create time-date stamp.
For me, that's an important consideration.
There is a program included with Windows called robocopy (Robust Copy) which is intended for mass file transfers, and includes an option to preserve the time-date stamps.

townsbg · Apr 1, 2016

It is correct that there is a limit to the number of characters in a file name including the full path so I am surprised that Windows let you create the files in the first place. Moving the folder to another location closer to the root of the drive or renaming the folder with a shorter name should have helped. Did you try either?

matt4x4 · Apr 5, 2016

What I did was manually rename the folder, and the files. Primarily deleted the persons name, which seemed to be repeated folder within folder. This knocked down the numbers a lot, I just continued but had to do some detective work, thus going folder per folder inside main folders. I did a desktop copy from old HD to new. But like I said in the earlier post, it seems to be an exact match for the crucial folder and files within. I now know about this Robocopy program, I will try to get them to use a shorter name for the folders and files.

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