Ok so first of all I did search for this, there a 2 threads available. I also just enabled long path in Group Edit Settings. I have seen a lot of people mention the bulk file renamer. I'm curious, just exactly how many characters are allowed per file? I'm transferring my 2 TB HDD to a 4 TB and I keep getting this error over and over. I'm trying to move a lot of files at once, and it doesn't exactly tell you where the particular file is located. It just gives you the root name of the sample packs etc. I can't believe that this is acctually a thing, was this ever a thing back in the day on older windows? I don't recall that issue ever.

 

theoretically there is no limit (or 32,767 characters) now (there always was one of 256 characters before) but your application has to support this as well. what are you using to copy?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry

 

I feel your pain and "funny" you started this thread because I'm in the exact same process and situation. Got myself a pair of slow storage drives, RAID0'ed them for a bit more speed and started copying my files from the other storage solution. Not moving, I without any doubt, will never move Sample libraries of any kind again in my life. Deleting files can be done at a later stage because I want to compare the folders to make really sure all files were cloned as per request. But let me get on topic.

So I've got this sample collection and library files folders which with ease outnumbers the 259 character limit which is by design. This was made clear during a previous data migration I did. I know that a long, long time ago (when Himem, load high shizzle and emm386 was a thing to get those 12KB of ram freed up to start a game or Fasttracker2) there was a limit of 8 characters excluding the file extension but that was a period with 5,25 floppy disks and I was aged like 6 or so freshly coming from a C64. Then came the nasty times with Windows, and DOS still couldn't handle longer filenames, but Microsoft did something funny. Right after performing a dir search in DOS you noticed a folder called progra~1 in your root folder, the program files folder ofc. So in Windows longer folder or filenames where allowed, extended to 259 (could've been that DOS allowed 259 pre Windows 2.0, not sure here tbh), to be cut off with a ~1, ~2 on the 7th and 8th characters spot. Now with this "fix" we could go up to 32.767 characters of I'm correct and the CMD prompt, for some time now, is fully compatible with files and folders having more than 8 characters but..... Or some of my folders contain 32.768 characters, which is completely in-line with my luck in life, or these fixes still aren't working because of a totaled OS on my system. I beginning to feel the latter is the case.

I've forced changes for Group Policy by using gpedit /force. I rebooted the system. Checked the policy and the registry (which is nothing more than checking if the GP change has been set) and still after concluding all is well, my EastWest libraries are giving me a hard time and surely not "a one" to make that clear.

I really think something has corrupted my system but not a single solution out there makes me copy those EastWest folders that really are full of files with characters lengths that are plain abnormal to write the least. So I guess I'm finally making the step to W11 Enterprise LTSC version 23H2 saying goodbye to my testing days for Microsoft and go for more stability than options. Options that I surely won't need and are completely irrelevant for Music production. Nonetheless, apparently there's an application called LongFileFixer (last updated in 2019, which makes me wonder) that can be downloaded from Softpedia. It can be my last resort. I will make Windows allow those 32.767 characters *laughing diabolical* ;).

Best of luck with your file copy process

Edit: To add my used copy apps to the discussion. I've used robocopy, Totalcommander and plain good old File Explorer.

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2025

Hmm, what I'm doing it dragging files from this old HDD to my computer C:/, and then tranferring the files I want back to the new HDD. Howver, I keep getting that damn error, and I don't even know which files are causing it.

 

Tha'ts the exact same problem I'm having, it takes 30 mins to move files to the C:/ drive, and then it will give that error and I have to go back and check how much infomation was lost per sample pack or library. So then I have to do them one by one so I know which files arde giving the issure.

Dang yea, I did the change as well in group edit, but not even sure if it's worked or not. I sure hope your HDD hasn't corrupted. Oh wow, to hell with that lol, I purchased the EastWest subscription for half off black friday/christmas time. I sure as hell wasn't going to download 300 gb libraries, fuck that lol.

Maybe we should both upgrade to Windows 11, I read that the issue is no longer present there. How do you speed up a HDD transfer rate? This one I have the 2TB is slower transfer than my 4TB West Digital Black.

 

it's funny because I was just dealing with very similar problem this week

you can use FreeFileSync to migrate/sync files/folders, that limitation for file/folder path lengths is limitation of Windows, not filesystem itself
ProTip - also if you use Windows to transfer files, THEN FreeFileSync will display which exact files/folders are troublemakers Windows wasn't able to deal with

 

It is better to pack your files with Winrar, you create a folder with a short name and move your data into it and then pack the folder with WinRar, this avoids errors caused by names that are too long and other strange things and you save storage space.

For very large files, compress the folder with WinRar 800 MB.

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2025

Dang lol.
Ah dude thanks thats eactly what I need.

hahaha I just installed it and it said "instead of an ad heres an animal"

 

Dang I didn't think that would make a difference, Thanks I'm glad to know that.

 

yea it's multiplatform freeware and devs are cheeky folks

 

The file manager that comes with 7-Zip (7zFM) supports long file/path names - assuming you have them enabled in Windows.

 

use xcopy from command prompt

 

this is the correct answer (or rsync on linux)

 

I'm not familiar with this?

 

The trick is to compress all files with WinRar beforehand. Take your time and do not copy all the files at once.

It is better to pack your files with Winrar, you create a folder with a short name and move your data into it and then pack the folder with WinRar, this avoids errors caused by names that are too long and other strange things and you save storage space. For very large files, compress the folder with WinRar 800 MB.

 

Last edited: Feb 22, 2025

Yea thats what I did I went that route. It wouldnt let me move game files that were installed, but if you zip them you can.