destination path too long

[anon125]

when copying 18gb of files to back up i get DESTINATION PATH TOO LONG.
is there a simple way of seeing which path is too long?
it is just regular file in a folder, with maybe some sub folders
i doubt they are more than 240 characters!
thanks all

 

[sizzling]

What format has the destination drive been formatted with?

 

[USAFRet]

when copying 18gb of files to back up i get DESTINATION PATH TOO LONG.
is there a simple way of seeing which path is too long?
it is just regular file in a folder, with maybe some sub folders
i doubt they are more than 240 characters!
thanks all

It's not just the path, but also the filename gets added to that.

 

[Solandri]

18 GB is about getting to the point where you want a real backup solution, not just copying files. Try Macrium Reflect, EaseUS Todo Backup, and Paragon Backup and Recovery. They all have free versions.

A real backup program can

• 
  ■also backup your system, so you can get back up and running quicker if your system drive should die. Just restore the system backup to the new drive, instead of having to do a clean install of Windows and having to reinstall all the programs you use.
  ■automate your back process and put it on a regular schedule. If you have a NAS on your network, you can backup to it automatically every day without you having to lift a finger. (You still want to do a regular weekly or monthly backup to an offline target like an external hard drive.)
  ■bypass the 240 path length limit (by storing the files in an archive).
  ■compress the backup file so reduce size on the backup device.
  ■only backup files which have changed, vastly reducing the backup time. (Incremental and/or differential backups - though I hear Macrium dropped this from the free version.)
  ■backup more quickly because hard drives are fastest at reading/writing large continuous files like a backup archive, as opposed to lots of small files.
  ■allow you to keep multiple backups. So if you have a document which you were editing every day, and you discover you you accidentally deleted a large chunk of it a week ago, the data will be gone from all the recent backups. But you can recover it by going to a backup from the previous week.
  ■encrypt your backups if you need the data to be secure (not available on most free versions).
  ■and a lot more.

 

[USAFRet]

only backup files which have changed, vastly reducing the backup time. (Incremental and/or differential backups - though I hear Macrium dropped this from the free version.)

The Macrium Free does, AFAIK, Full + Differential. The paid also adds Incremental.

And I've found it good enough and seamless enough to pay for the full version for my main system. The other systems in the house live on the free version.

And Macrium also gives you the ability to retrieve a single file from within an image. Mounts the *.mrimage file in File Explorer and gives it a drive letter, just like any other drive.

 

[anon125]

What format has the destination drive been formatted with?

i do not know -whatever is normal.
i suspect the file names are zipped downloaded models that have zipped files inside. all have long names.
i need a way of finding all too long names to change them.
thanks

 

[anon125]

i will stick to simple backups thanks