How to prevent long file name error copying from an external drive?

You'll get these kinds of errors if you use the drag-and-drop copy within Windows explorer.

However, if you use Robocopy, you should find that you can copy the files without any issues.

The command-line version of Robocopy is built-in to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008; it can be downloaded for other operating systems. Although there is a downloadable GUI, it's best used from the command line (aka CMD.exe).

By default, Robocopy should handle paths greater than 256 characters (there's a switch to turn it off, but in your case you don't want to do this).

Example command line (which will copy all files in the folder C:\Projects to the folder Z:\Projects):

robocopy "C:\Projects" "Z:\Projects" *.* /COPY:DAT /E

misterjaytee

Posted 2011-10-23T05:34:09.940

Reputation: 1 763

Can Robocopy solve the problem at http://superuser.com/a/216718/78897 ?

– Pacerier – 2015-05-16T00:33:59.587

@Pacerier - absolutely, I use robocopy for this purpose frequently – misterjaytee – 2015-06-29T21:31:03.027

@misterjaytee, While robocopy is built-in, I've heard Terracopy is much better. Why don't you use that? – Pacerier – 2015-07-02T09:35:33.997

@Pacerier - I was answering a question based on lots of experience of using Robocopy. Main reasons for not using Teracopy are: Robocopy is built into all currently supported versions of Windows and works nicely enough for our requirements; and Teracopy is commercial software (i.e. you pay for it) - it is only free for personal use. – misterjaytee – 2015-07-25T10:19:55.920

thanks for answer / would you plz tell me which parts of robocopy should i check for this purpose! – SliverLight – 2011-10-23T10:34:44.893

those checks are so important... – SliverLight – 2011-10-23T10:37:31.803

1Edited answer to provide an example Robocopy command – misterjaytee – 2011-10-23T12:02:45.303

thanks for edit / should i use this command in command prompt(cmd) or robocopy has a place for using that command? – SliverLight – 2011-10-24T10:28:41.673

As it says in the text, "use it from the command line" otherwise known as the command prompt or CMD. – misterjaytee – 2011-10-24T18:44:10.810

thanks for comments / but in visual mode where places should i check for the best entire copy ? – SliverLight – 2011-10-26T10:36:55.677

you can downlaod it from this link -> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.11.utilityspotlight.aspx

– SliverLight – 2011-10-26T10:38:53.943

robocopy gui only copies some files and folders just 4 a second / not all files and folders / but that cmd command works perfect. – SliverLight – 2011-10-26T11:15:40.183

Glad you got it sorted - to be honest, never used the GUI and hadn't realised that's what you were trying to use. Command line wins every time for me ;) – misterjaytee – 2011-10-26T18:37:55.577

/COPY:DAT is the default. From the documentation... /COPY:copyflag[s] :: what to COPY for files (default is /COPY:DAT). (copyflags : D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps). (S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info). – buzz3791 – 2014-01-09T14:22:17.430

@buzz3791 - yes I know. But defaults change from time to time and it does no harm to put in the intended copyflags. – misterjaytee – 2014-01-10T07:45:40.047

How to prevent long file name error copying from an external drive?

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