[RESOLVED] Suddenly descriptions of files and folders limited. Why ?

[slickcondo]

I recently upgraded my laptop hard drive and when I tried to collect all files of the same type (eg, third party programs) into one folder by transfering from a backup USB pen drive to the new hard drive on my laptop , the file will not transfer and the reason is that the description of the file is too long. But for some files it has a longer description and it can be transfered without any problem. Does anyone know why this is the case and is there any thing I can do ? I did not have this problem before, especially transfering from a USB drive to the main laptop drive. There are occasions where this happens when transfering from the laptop hard drive to a USB drive due to the USB drive limitation, but not vice versa.

Any suggests and help greatly welcome. Many thanks.

[Train]

The file transfer route is part of the name in this case. I have had to go in and shorten many a folder name so I could transfer files.
Also move folders so the routing name got shortened.

Individual components of a filename (i.e. each subdirectory along the path, and the final filename) are limited to 255 characters

read more
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247.aspx

[slickcondo]

The file transfer route is part of the name in this case. I have had to go in and shorten many a folder name so I could transfer files.
Also move folders so the routing name got shortened.

read more
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247.aspx

Thanks for the info. I did not realized that the number of subfolders also forms part of the name. No wonder sometimes, i have a file name that is much longer and can be transferred without any problem compared to another file with shorter file name, but situated in several subfolders and cannot be transferred. i was wondering why this is the case, but now i understand. Thank you so much for this info.

[Train]

You are Welcome. I learned the hard way too.

[slickcondo]

You are Welcome. I learned the hard way too.

Arrrgggghh!! Looks like I spoke too soon in marking this thread as Resolved. Having shortened some file names to transfer from a external hard drive to my latop internal drive, a lot of the files after transfer had changed to files without any program associated with it on the laptop and cannot be open. These are drivers and application fiiles for my laptop. I have tried to transfer them back, and even tried copying back the the external drive, they still showed the files without any program associated with them. Some of the remaining files not yet transferred to the laptop has also changed to no programs associated with them.

Any suggestions ? I can't download these drivers and application files from the laptop site anymore as they were old programs for older laptops that were no longer supported.

I have no idea how to change these files back to their original since i don't know what was the original program that was associated to them. I suspect the programs that were associated with these fiiles were EXE, but this is not an option to choose from either the Properties option or Open With....function.

[Train]

Drivers I place in a folder that is named for what is for.

1, I never change a driver name, that way I can google the name and find what it is for.
2. I do the same thing for programs.
3, Those I always burn to data cd/dvds as I have noted that chkdsk and defragging sometimes messes with them and they will not work.
Yes, I have downloads that I got clear back in the 98 days that work just fine in Win 10 Review in compatibility mode that I have on data dvds.

[slickcondo]

Drivers I place in a folder that is named for what is for.

1, I never change a driver name, that way I can google the name and find what it is for.
2. I do the same thing for programs.
3, Those I always burn to data cd/dvds as I have noted that chkdsk and defragging sometimes messes with them and they will not work.
Yes, I have downloads that I got clear back in the 98 days that work just fine in Win 10 Review in compatibility mode that I have on data dvds.

So does this mean I can rescue these "lost" files ?

[Train]

May have to chase them down. If that does not work, find new programs to do the job is possible.

Drivers for a computer, newer OS's most likely have them, anyway my experience.

[slickcondo]

ok, thanks.