"Destination Path Too Long"

[broiyan]

I'm making a backup using the Explorer "burn" control.

It goes for a while then says "Destination path too long". It shows the name of a folder "debug" and I have several with that name so I don't know what is too long. I have already deleted my 3 most recent projects (because projects have a "debug" folder) but the problem still keeps happening. The dialog box that shows the name of the file being burned probably does not help because I suspect it's running in another thread so the file name that it gets stuck on has nothing to do with the folder/file that causes a problem. In any event the file it gets stuck on is on a path that has been burned dozens of times in the past.

Has anybody found a solution to this problem? This is a big time-waster, IMO.

 

[zigzag3143]

I'm making a backup using the Explorer "burn" control.

It goes for a while then says "Destination path too long". It shows the name of a folder "debug" and I have several with that name so I don't know what is too long. I have already deleted my 3 most recent projects (because projects have a "debug" folder) but the problem still keeps happening. The dialog box that shows the name of the file being burned probably does not help because I suspect it's running in another thread so the file name that it gets stuck on has nothing to do with the folder/file that causes a problem. In any event the file it gets stuck on is on a path that has been burned dozens of times in the past.

Has anybody found a solution to this problem? This is a big time-waster, IMO.

I think they are saying it is too long not a un-useable name. Path has a max of 132 caracters so.

it may be something like C:\users\usrname\appdata\program name\project name\debug that may be too long

K

 

[broiyan]

I know it's not an unusable name. "Debug" is a very common name for a folder.

 

[DanielHieb]

You might just have to restart your machine, go into dos by a startup disk, then type. the command:

Format C: /S

-Just kidding, don't do the above; totally a joke. The action item i reccomend is to:

A> Copy the Files to a shorter path
B> Put important data into a single folder and create a virtual drive to the really long path. EXAMPLE to use in CMD prompt:

Subst Z: "C:\Really\Really\Really\Long\But\Valid\Pathname\with\the\files\you\are\trying\to\backup"

This way you will create a "z:" drive to the furthest descended folder.

Please try the above and let me know how it goes.

 

[broiyan]

DanielHieb, this suggestion of yours does not look practical. There's not going to be much data in a path like c:\users\owner\documents\really\really\really\Long\Path\way\down\there. I don't want to back up small amounts of data, but rather the entire c:\users\owner\documents.

Also, if I repeat your method several times for different folders it would be a lot of work because I have a lot of folders. And then if my disk crashes I would have to have recorded some way to put all the little pieces together. In a nutshell, thanks but your method is not practical.

 

[logicearth]

DanielHieb, this suggestion of yours does not look practical. There's not going to be much data in a path like c:\users\owner\documents\really\really\really\Long\Path\way\down\there. I don't want to back up small amounts of data, but rather the entire c:\users\owner\documents.

Also, if I repeat your method several times for different folders it would be a lot of work because I have a lot of folders. And then if my disk crashes I would have to have recorded some way to put all the little pieces together. In a nutshell, thanks but your method is not practical.

What was suggested was a virtual means of putting things into smaller chunks. They are not in actually smaller chunks. You retain your folder/file structure keeping everything in your documents folder but logically make it appear as it is separated in its own drive. What was suggested does not conflict with what you want to do.

 

[patio]

You might just have to restart your machine, go into dos by a startup disk, then type. the command:

Format C: /S

Even in jest this is a ridiculous thing to Post in a Help Forum...

Even if it may be amusing to you...

 

[broiyan]

logicearth, I sorry but I don't understand your post. If I backup the contents of Z: drive as suggested by DanielHeib, if my disk crashes I would have to restore c:\users\owner\documents then I would have to do a another restore for the long path folder. That's why I said it's not practical, because there are multiple restores involved.

The other thing that is not practical about the suggestion is the suggestion "put important data in a single folder". That would be a disaster for organization.

 

[fseal]

What are you backing up to?

Windows kernel actually has a max path size of like 32k but the Explorer api and mot programs should accept paths of 240 characters or less. CD ROMs though have higher restrictions including a painful max path depth of 8 folders :/

So it might be the location your backuing up to thats the problem.

 

[broiyan]

I'm backing up to an optical disk drive (mapped as D drive) and it is a DVD+R removable disk.

I think the 32k byte path limit applies to older operating systems but I suspect it does not for Win 7. I was not aware of the 8 depth limit. I will have to look into that. Thanks.

 

[DeaconFrost]

It may also be due to the type of file formatting you'll use on the disc. I would suggest using something other than the Windows built in burning app, so you have more control over the format of the disc.

 

[broiyan]

Please, do you have a DVD+R burning application recommendation for somebody who really just wants functionality similar to robocopy, a unix recursive copy, etc. that is not constrained by the path depth of 8 and the Win 7 Explorer path length?

 

[DeaconFrost]

The path depth could be due to a joliet format, or whatever it is called. Just about any free burning app should be able to burn the data you want archived. I prefer CDBurnerXP, but there are plenty of others.

 

[DanielHieb]

The action item i reccomend is to:

A> Copy the Files to a shorter path
B> Put important data into a single folder and create a virtual drive to the really long path. EXAMPLE to use in CMD prompt:

Subst Z: "C:\Really\Really\Really\Long\But\Valid\Pathname\with\the\files\you\are\trying\to\backup"
.

A> and B> are two separate options <fyi>. -And, maybe if the folder count limitation is just near it's threshold, reducing the path by a bit (i.e. Subst Z: "c:\users") might help - if the character count is the problem. Hope you find a good workaround. Also wondering, how come you can't use Windows 7 Backup or easy transfer (seeing that you're backing up user's documents etc)?

 

[broiyan]

DanielHieb, thanks but copying to a shorter path is not an option because that would ruin more than one thing, including Visual Studio projects. I don't want to use Win 7's backup because it requires you to take the previous backup and put it in the drive when you want to do a new backup. The reason I don't want to is because I'm opposed to that type of use of a backup medium.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Have you considered just using SyncToy with an external drive? That would greatly simplify what you are trying to accomplish.

 

[broiyan]

DeaconFrost, Thanks suggestions. My perusal of CNet was discouraging because people said a popular backup app has documentation in Italian and I used to use one from LG the drive maker and I didn't like their language either.

I have totally forgotten about CDBurnerXP so thanks for the reminder. I vaguely remember using it for something a few years ago so there's a good chance it will satisfy my needs if the image on the DVD will be simply a tree like the one on my hard drive. I don't want any proprietary formats tied to a particular backup application. Not in a million years.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Since you seem very concerned about preserving paths, I'd consider going with my SyncToy recommendation. You can easily preserve paths and restore as well.

 

[broiyan]

SyncToy cannot burn DVD+R media. It probably can't burn optical media at all by default. I did not investigate if there is any configuration setting that will allow it.

I tested CDBurnerXP with 9 deep nested folders and it worked and the very long path also worked. CDBurnerXP does not appear to have a restore capability. I guess it is meant for backing up movies that you will never restore, just watch straight off the DVD.

I have no idea if Windows Explorer is capable of doing a restore 9 deep and with a long path but at least I have a backup so I feel safer now.

What good is a backup if you don't know if you can restore? I guess I can restore to linux if need be.

 

[logicearth]

Why not just throw it all into a self-extracting 7zip archive? Then the path length becomes irrelevant you also shrink the size somewhat. (Depending on what you compress.)