Hi Guys, maybe someone could suggest what the issue is with moving folders to an external H/D.
I have many folders, and now that my computer is playing up I want to make a second copy of the complete photo folders to an other external H/D
All folders have names, some short, some a bit longer, and some in between, however when i start to move the files to the external drive it copies some and than stops and tells me that it cant copy certain folders because the name of the folder is to long.
I know some one may suggest to shorten the names of the folders, but that is something i really don't want to do, besides there are about 4000 folders
Hi Guys, maybe someone could suggest what the issue is with moving folders to an external H/D.
I have many folders, and now that my computer is playing up I want to make a second copy of the complete photo folders to an other external H/D
All folders have names, some short, some a bit longer, and some in between, however when i start to move the files to the external drive it copies some and than stops and tells me that it cant copy certain folders because the name of the folder is to long.
I know some one may suggest to shorten the names of the folders, but that is something i really don't want to do, besides there are about 4000 folders
Is this normal
If the external disk is not formatted as NTFS you can't use the long names that you can on the internal disk.
Do you use the disk on any PCs which are not running XP or later? If not you can change the format to NTFS with the "convert" utility built in to Windows. Run "help convert" to get the syntax.
Once it has NTFS format you can use long names, but you might find you can not eject the disk without shutting down the system. It is critically important that you do remove the disk properly. NTFS is much more complex than FAT or FAT32 and does not take kindly to being shut down uncleanly, or the cable pulled without ejecting.
ntfs will take 128 characters for files and folders, whereas fat32 will take 32 (or 64) characters? usually anything above the recognised will have file/foldername~1 or something ...
least it's not fat .. which will only accept 8 characters
WD should be fine .. I have an old wd, one of the first external hds ..an elements .. and have never had problems with it. for over 3 years.
that's strange Leon .. specially since you're running xp. xp is ntfs? .. or fat32? sorry I've forgotten .. goto my computer .. right click your hard drive and select properties and it should tell you what format it is ..
you could format your external to ntfs if it isn't already .. fairly straight forward .. right click your external and click on format in the menu and make sure ntfs is selected
reading the manual, my book are fat32 ... here's a screen shot ...you will need to reformat to ntfs ...
Following those WD instructions erases the disk. "convert" preserves the data.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noeyedeer
that's strange Leon .. specially since you're running xp. xp is ntfs? .. or fat32? sorry I've forgotten .. goto my computer .. right click your hard drive and select properties and it should tell you what format it is ..
Everything from NT4 onwards (Win2K, XP, Vista, Win7, Win 8 and all the server versions) supports NTFS. Newer versions will only install on NTFS.
thanks Andrew. if it were me, i would start from a clean format and copy over the files again .. just so youbdidnt miss anything that got busted with long filenames.
I know convert works .. I used that when going from win98 to xp ..
Andrew I have read your response again and get the picture, so to speak.
You are basically telling me that if i have the external H/D connected and then just pull it out it can actually cause it to play up. ??
Well I have to admit i am very guilty of that and have done it more times than i can remember, I was not really aware of that.
Andrew I have read your response again and get the picture, so to speak.
You are basically telling me that if i have the external H/D connected and then just pull it out it can actually cause it to play up. ??
Well I have to admit i am very guilty of that and have done it more times than i can remember, I was not really aware of that.
Leon, you might get away with it on FAT or FAT32 devices if there have been no changes to the disk in the last 30secs or so. With NTFS devices it is never a good move.
If you do not properly eject any disk (that includes USB sticks) before pulling the plug the system may not have flushed all changed data from memory to disk. If it was just file contents then you would have corrupted files. If the data includes the directories as where to find files on the disk then you could lose entire directories, and in the worst case the whole disk. Disk recovery programs might find the files and data, but maybe not.
Shutting the system down cleanly does the proper eject process for the non-removable disks. That's why if you turn off the power with the system running, or hold the power button down until it forces a shutdown, when you restart it sometimes wants to check the disk.
It is probably good practice to use Window's chkdsk (at a command prompt run "chkdsk /?" to see the options) from time to time to see if there are any problems - especially if there have been any unclean shutdowns. Depending on what it finds it may schedule a more thorough check at the next reboot.
Andrew, tomorrow i am heading to town and i will be buying another external H/D, is there anything i should be looking at to make sure it will copy all my files and folders that i currently have on my old XP machine.
I will need to be able to copy the entire files and folders with the longer file names as well.
The longest file name i have is roughly 60-65 characters, but that may extend out to say about 70-80 one day.
Andrew, tomorrow i am heading to town and i will be buying another external H/D, is there anything i should be looking at to make sure it will copy all my files and folders that i currently have on my old XP machine.
I will need to be able to copy the entire files and folders with the longer file names as well.
The longest file name i have is roughly 60-65 characters, but that may extend out to say about 70-80 one day.
And what would be a good purchase you think.
Leon, I'd suggest you ask for a disk with USB3 connection, but check it is USB2 compatible too. Your current PC may not have USB3 ports, but if you upgrade the PC the new one will have USB3 and it is much faster.
At todays prices you might as well get at least 1TB or 2TB if the prices is only a little more.
I usually buy a drive - Western Digital or Seagate - and fit it in a case myself.
As for ready-to-use brands it might come down to what the dealers stock. If you stick with a better brand like Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba or Apple you should be OK, but the prices differ quite a bit.
Don't forget if the disk is in FAT or FAT32 format to reformat it as NTFS. That way and folder name that works on the PC will work on the external disk too.
By the way, there are also eSATA external disks but you probably don't have an eSATA port on your PC. Those are as fast as internal disks, and ejecting them properly is just as important as USB.
Andrew, today i purchased a Toshiba 1tb external hard drive, it tells me in compatibility section that it will support XP and USB 3 and 2, also it is formate already for NTFS.
Having said that i presume it will be OK for hooking it up to the old XP machine and downloading all my files with the longer characters to this drive.
Andrew, today i purchased a Toshiba 1tb external hard drive, it tells me in compatibility section that it will support XP and USB 3 and 2, also it is formate already for NTFS.
Having said that i presume it will be OK for hooking it up to the old XP machine and downloading all my files with the longer characters to this drive.
leon
Leon, that sounds like what you needed. Try copying some directories with long names, and eject it properly. There should be an eject icon in the system tray. If not you'll have to shut down and then unplug. Reinsert it and check everything is there.
You might find that your virus checker or Window's indexing service locks the drive against ejecting. Then the easiest solution is reboot and unplug before Windows starts.
You might try "USB Disk Ejector" to see if that makes things simpler.
I was not really aware of that. 
