Max. Number Of Characters Allowed In Names For A Transfer To Ext. HD ?

[Myatyy]

Hello,

I tend to use pretty long file names on my Folders, and also, often for the WORD documents inside.

When I try to transfer these to an external HD for backup, the following seems to happen.
But, it is very inconsistent.

Most of the time, but not all, it will ask me to if I want to skip the transfer because the name of the
Folder, or file(s) inside are too long.

If I say yes, but go back and look later, the files have transferred fine.
This is true sometime, but not all the time.
Sometimes it does the transfer, other times it does skip transferring them.

I just ran an experiment with a horrendously long folder name, and also for the WORD document I put inside.
Transferred just fine.

So, for W7, the 64 bit version:

What are the rules, and limits for the number of characters allowed in a
Folder name that will transfer without any problem ?

How about for what is inside the Folder; same rules ?

Can it be possibly that the external HD is controlling this ?

Thanks,

 

[Mynight]

260 character limit afaik including path.

Not sure why it only flags when trying to move files. Is the external drive in a different format?

 

[Dave M]

pathname is not limited by the file system, within reason, but explorer barf's at 255 characters, so pretty annoying to access even if you can use another program to backup.

make your backup folder depth no deeper than what you are copying (i.e. copy to drive root, not <drive>:\backups\2015\may\20\) and you should be fine.