external HD conundrum

T

tomh21

n00b
Joined
Nov 7, 2004
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Toshiba laptop 1.86 Pentium M, winxp media center edition service pk3

Hello, i purchased a WD 1TB my book external HD and then i reformatted it and changed it from fat32 to ntsf. its working fine except when i try to backup the my documents folder by drag and drop, i repeatedly get error mess saying some file or folder has a name thats to long and cant be copied. when i click the OK button the coping process stops and i have try to find the offending file and delete it. and then start the backup again. its becoming a real pain. is there some workaround? maybe some software that will fix it or a change i can make to my comp? any help welcomed. thanks.
 
You can archive the directory first into a file before copying. Something like, winrar or winzip.
 
You have a few options:

1. Copy to a shorter path on the external (unless you're copying to the root)
2. Turn off show hidden files/folders temporarily
3. Use xcopy /e /c from a command prompt instead of the Explorer GUI to perform the operation: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/xcopy.mspx?mfr=true
4. Grab robocopy from a Vista, 2003, or 2008 unit and use it.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.11.utilityspotlight.aspx

Robocopy is absolutely awesome. xcopy /e and robocopy both ignore errors :D :cool:
 
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