Tried to move Folders from C Drive to F drive - Error re. File Name

Hello All,

Please excuse my lack of Computer terminology - I have very little knowledge in Computing as I only use my Computer for browsing the Internet, Emailing and online Shopping so I would need `Idiot Proof` Step by Step Instructions to carry out any suggestions to help me with this problem Please:

Because I have very little Free Space on my Computer`s C Drive and the Free space keeps dropping down inexplicably by approximately 10 - 12 GB`s every couple of days causing the Computer to be completely unusable I wanted to move some Library Folders from the C Drive to the F Drive which has loads of Free space and I tried doing that following Instructions that I found on the Forum here:

User Folders - Change Default Location


Unfortunately when I tried to move the Folder - Pictures [also happened with Videos] - I received an onscreen Error message which stated:

`Unexpected error from PerformRedirection The file name or extension is too long`

I am attaching a Screenshot of that Error message.


I did find a reference to that Error message on a Google search from another Computer Forum type website but the details were so Technical that they impossible for me to understand and there was no `Fix` described.

Having read some of the information on the other website I am guessing that the Error message is referring to a `hidden file name` because my Computers / Library `Pictures` is obviously not a file name or extension that is too long and my attempted new Location which was F:\Pictures is also obviously not a file name or extension that is too long ?

I think that I remember a comment referring to `Finding the File name / Extension and making it shorter` - something to that effect - but as I mentioned the details were FAR too complicated for me to even try to understand.

Unless I can get the process explained in very simple `Step by Step instructions`I would not be comfortable trying to Rename Folders / File names / shorten File names / Extensions in case that meant that they just disappeared because I had made a mistake.


I really do need to be able to move a large amount of Data / large Folders from my Computer`s C Drive to the F Drive because the C Drive keeps dropping the Free Space down to approximately 10 or 11 GB`s and at that point the Computer`s Mouse and Keyboard freeze up and I have to turn off the Computer using the power button.

I am attaching a Screenshot example of the C Drive having dropped down from approximately 20 GB`s to about 11 GB`s.

Most of the 66.9 GB`s that are showing on the F Drive are Pictures & Videos Folders contents that I previously Copied & Pasted to the F Drive before I found the Forum thread Instructions - that was an Error on my part because I found out afterwards that doing that would not have caused Windows to put future Files to those locations as the Default location.


I have not deleted those Folders yet in case something goes wrong and I accidentally lose Data / Folders / Files while trying to move them correctly.

Before I Copied & Pasted those Folders into the Computer`s F Drive there was approximately 135 GB`s of Free space there out of the original 141 GB`s.



I am desperate to get help with gaining a large amount of Free space on the C Drive by moving the Library Pictures and Videos Folders to the F Drive by somehow overcoming the cause of the Error message.



When I read the Instructions from the Forum thread [link above] I was very pleased that the Steps were simply explained and looked easy to follow - unfortunately the resulting Error message now seems to be indicating an insurmountable problem for Me because of my lack of experience / knowledge in Computing ?


Thank You for reading this - I would really appreciate any Help.

My Regards, Chris

"File name or extension is too long"

Open the Public Picture folder.
Is there any name that a big name (many characters)?
Is there any name that a big extension (more than 4 characters)?


To free some GigaBytes you can move the virtual memory to D: and disable hibernation.
Also move the system and user temporary folder to D:
Did on my computer and can guide you.

Is it the case that perhaps just ONE Picture in my Computer`s C Drive Public Pictures Folder which has either a long `Name` or Extension is preventing me from moving the 28 GB plus Folder to the F Drive ?
Yes

It doesn't matter if is drive D: or F:
Windows has a 260 path character size limit.
Before Windows 95, Windows only allowed file names that were eight characters long, with a three character file extension–commonly known as an 8.3 filename. Windows 95 abandoned that to allow long file names, but still limited the maximum path length (which includes the full folder path and the file name) to 260 characters. That limit has been in place ever since. If you’ve ever run into this limit, most likely it was when you were trying to copy deep folder structures into other folders, such as when copying the contents of a hard drive to a folder on another drive.

If you have a file name that has 220 characters (space included) and you try to move to a F:\My pictures\Summer 1998 trip\Scotland and Ireland\Whisky distillers\ the folder path is 72 Characters will fail (220+72=292 > 260)

You have to find a file that has a huge name and make it shorter

Megahertz07 said:

Windows has a 260 path character size limit.
Before Windows 95, Windows only allowed file names that were eight characters long, with a three character file extension–commonly known as an 8.3 filename. Windows 95 abandoned that to allow long file names, but still limited the maximum path length (which includes the full folder path and the file name) to 260 characters. That limit has been in place ever since. If you’ve ever run into this limit, most likely it was when you were trying to copy deep folder structures into other folders, such as when copying the contents of a hard drive to a folder on another drive.

If you have a file name that has 220 characters (space included) and you try to move to a D:\My pictures\Summer 1998 trip\Scotland and Ireland\Whisky distillers\ the folder path is 72 Characters will fail (220+72=292 > 260)

You have to find a file that has a huge name and make it shorter

Hello again,

Thank You very much for your explanation - however now I am further confused about what Picture / File name could have caused the Error because although I stated that I would have named a lot of the Pictures / Files with a long descriptive name I would not have used anywhere near the amount of characters that You described for any individual Picture or Folder re. the 260 character limits.

Something that has now occurred to me is that within the Computer`s Public Pictures Folder are many Sub Folders that I have created which have many Pictures / Files within them - every one of those Pictures / Files have long descriptive names.

So for example there is a Folder within the Public Pictures Folder which is Named `BUILDING REGULATIONS` and within that Folder there are 121 PDF`s which all have long descriptive names.

I am attaching a Screenshot of just a small section of the `BUILDING REGULATIONS` Folder contents - the individual Pictures / Files names are much longer than what you can see on the Screenshot - probably at least twice as many characters as you can see for each file name.

I am now fairly sure that the majority of the Pictures / Files in my Computer`s Public Pictures Folder are in Sub Folders and have long names.

Does that mean that the characters in the name `Public Pictures` Folder plus the characters in the names of the Sub Folders and ALL of the names of the Pictures / Files within that sub folder are adding up to many hundreds of characters in `File Names` and that is the cause of the Error / Error message that I got when I tried to move the Pictures Folder from the Computer`s C Drive to the F Drive ?

If that is the case I might as well give up now on trying to move the Pictures Folder to my Computer`s F Drive because there is no way that I could ever rectify the situation by having to Rename nearly EVERY Folder and EVERY Picture / File - 30,000 Pictures / Files.

I could easily be misunderstanding the situation through lack of Computing knowledge [ I hope that I am] so could You please correct me if that is the case.

Thanks again for your help.

Chris

It isn't very difficult.
Open Explorer, select to view Details and set the column width to medium. Any file bigger will have dots at the end.

kind of strange you got some really long name txt file. i think you can delete those files by one folder to next folder.
or you can download some file explorer software to let you view earlier. good luck

It seems you did not select to view details.