Long File Names Truncating

[grumpy_toad]

When I copy long file names to an external hard drive, the file names randomly shorten to six capital letters+tilde+number. This does not happen consistently, though. Curiously, if I transfer a file folder with a file having the same name inside, the file folder will transfer intact, but the internal document will shorten. This does not happen between drives/partitions on my main computer, nor does it happen with all of my external drives (I have several external hard drives for video editing storage.). All of the drives in question are formatted to NTFS. The problem is annoying considering I have thousands of titles, and many now seem to be truncating to an unrecognizable title. I have changed the value of the 8.3 name in the registry from 0 to 1 and back again with no change in the random consistency of the file names truncating. Hopefully, the problem is a configuration matter somewhere. My OS is XP SP3.

In conjunction, I have recently had several files reject copy due to length, even though the names are obviously much less than 255 characters. I do not think the issues are related, unless you take into consideration the mutual headache they both have blossomed.

Any help or positive direction is greatly appreciated.

Jim

[Spad]

Back up your registry first. In fact, you should back up your registry often, even if you don't intend to muck around with it. You'll feel better if you do.

Check in your registry and make sure that long file names are enabled.

Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Filesystem

In the right-hand pane find "NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation" and right-click on it, and select "Modify"
If the value box has a 1, then long file names are disabled. Change the 1 to 0 . Reboot.

Hope this helps.

[Spad]

Sorry . . . not sure how, but I missed that you had already tried that . . .

You don't by chance use a Symantec product do you?

[grumpy_toad]

No problem, Spad. I appreciate the effort. This one is frustrating as I do not know what causes the truncation. Some files truncate, some do not. Most that do not have titles that are visually longer than those that do, though this is not always the case. Maybe there is something I am not physically seeing in the titles, such as the path. But if this were true, why does the directory folder not truncate also with the interior files? I am truly stumped...and tired of cutting and pasting titles from the folder file names.

No, I do not use a Symantec product. I have not had much luck or success with them.

Jim

[plodr]

I have recently had several files reject copy due to length, even though the names are obviously much less than 255 characters.

It might not be the file name that is rejected but rather the length of the path.
If it is very long like C:\Documents and Settings\your user name\My Documents\My Special folder\name of file.ext and this approaches 255 characters (everything included) you might get a rejection.

Somewhere in the very dim recesses of my mind is the exact information. Unfortunately, I can't put my finger on it to post better details. Sorry.

[grumpy_toad]

Thanks for jumping in, Plodr. Just curious, this particular drive is mounted and does not have a drive letter. Could this be a major player in the length of the path? This may help to explain the length errors, but does it also explain the appearance of randomly shortening of the names while leaving other document titles in the same transfer intact? Why does the protocol outright reject some file names with an error message while using the tilde on others? How do I address this without causing errors in the files I have already transferrred? Once a file is shortened with the tilde, I have been going back and cutting and pasting the titles again or retyping them from the document. Is there a faster way to access the original title or is this the only way?

Thanks again.

Jim

[plodr]

Sorry, I don't have an answer to that.

this particular drive is mounted and does not have a drive letter

I've not seen anything like that. My external drive is always given a letter. I move it around between quite a few computers because I sometime put Acronis True images on it when I don't want to burn the image. It might be given a different letter depending on the computer it is attached to and the other hardware on the computer.

[grumpy_toad]

I have external hard drives set up both with "floating" drive letters and some that are mounted via a dedicated empty folder within a lettered partition. The floating letter drives always identify with a letter, while the mounted drives only register through their specific folders. Subfolders on the mounted drives representing individual partitions also do not have letters. I am now wondering if the extra levels of organization are having the unintended consequence of having some file paths being too long and thus truncating the file names. I also download numerous books, files, music and videos from external sources (I freely confess to being an avid, often obsessive knowledge collector.). More often than not, these files generate the long file name errors. Is it possible for these files to have hidden baggage in their titles? I have been able to edit the titles on most, but on the stubborn few, I have found I am able to save them to my main drives without issue. Once I identify and sort out a solution to my problem, I will transfer them to the appropriate mounted drive.

[techsent]

Hi grumpy_toad,

This may shed some light on the random truncating-

http://kb.iu.edu/data/acyu.html

you could try the dos xcopy command to see if that will help-

start button/run/cmd

then type xcopy /?

or, maybe moving the files over instead of copying and then copy them back to their source folder. I know this sounds tedious but it may be a work around.

Techsent

[techsent]

Hi grumpy_toad,

Im not sure if this will work but I've built a small visual basic Directory Copier program.

I've tested it on a hard drive but I don't have an external to confirm.

The proggy bypasses win explorer's gui so it completes much quicker.

If all goes well, maybe I can add a progress bar, browse to directory and error checking.

You'll know the copying is done when the hard drive light settles or you can watch the files paint the destination folder.

Here's the internal code-

Private Type SHFILEOPSTRUCT
hwnd As Long
wFunc As Long
pFrom As String
pTo As String
fFlags As Integer
fAnyOperationsAborted As Long
hNameMappings As Long
lpszProgressTitle As String ' only used if FOF_SIMPLEPROGRESS
End Type

Private Const FOF_MULTIDESTFILES = &H1
Private Const FOF_CONFIRMMOUSE = &H2
Private Const FOF_SILENT = &H4
Private Const FOF_RENAMEONCOLLISION = &H8
Private Const FOF_NOCONFIRMATION = &H10
Private Const FOF_WANTMAPPINGHANDLE = &H20
Private Const FOF_CREATEPROGRESSDLG = &H0
Private Const FOF_ALLOWUNDO = &H40
Private Const FOF_FILESONLY = &H80
Private Const FOF_SIMPLEPROGRESS = &H100
Private Const FOF_NOCONFIRMMKDIR = &H200

Private Const FO_MOVE = 1
Private Const FO_COPY = 2
Private Const FO_DELETE = 3
Private Const FO_RENAME = 4

Private Declare Function SHFileOperation Lib "shell32.dll" (lpFileOp As SHFILEOPSTRUCT) As Long

Public Function CopyFolder(ByVal strSource As String, ByVal strDest As String) As Boolean

Dim varFOS As SHFILEOPSTRUCT
With varFOS
.fFlags = FOF_NOCONFIRMATION Or FOF_SILENT Or FOF_NOCONFIRMMKDIR
.wFunc = FO_COPY
.pFrom = strSource
.pTo = strDest
End With
Call SHFileOperation(varFOS)
CopyFolder = (varFOS.fAnyOperationsAborted = 0)
End Function

Private Sub Command1_Click()
If Text1.Text = "" Or Text2.Text = "" Then
MsgBox "Please enter the Source or Destination directory path.", vbInformation
Exit Sub
Else
CopyFolder Text1.Text, Text2.Text
End If
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
Unload Me
End Sub



Techsent

[techsent]

2nd version

Modified to include string variables-
added doevents statement-

Private Sub Command1_Click()
If Text1.Text = "" Or Text2.Text = "" Then
MsgBox "Please enter the Source or Destination directory path.", vbInformation
Exit Sub
Else
'CopyFolder Text1.Text, Text2.Text
Dim qq As String
Dim qq1 As String
qq = Text1.Text
qq1 = Text2.Text
CopyFolder qq, qq1
DoEvents
End If
End Sub

Techsent