File names to long for copy and paste in an External Hard Drive

[Sy S]

Hello,

Using PC Windows 7 Professional-

I tried to copy and paste some files on my "C" drive and into an external WD Hard Drive... only to get
a pop up stating that the file names are to long. And I should shorten them.

Is there perhaps another way of doing this instead of going to over 100 files and renaming each one?

Any help will be appreciated,

Sy S

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Sy S, welcome to Seven Forums,

If I remember correctly, XCOPY does this OK!

I hope this helps!

 

[Sy S]

Hello Paul,

Thanks for your quick reply. However, I don't think it would work out using XCOPY.
Quote from; >> From Wikipedia, In computing, XCOPY is a command used on PC DOS, MS-DOS, OS/2, Microsoft Windows...<<
Basically it is using PC DOS commands and I am not a software programmer nor interested in going back 10+ years using DOS commands.

Also, if I did copy files using XCOPY, the copied file now located on a Memory Stick (and long file names) would still be a burden to copy and paste to another device. (Example, I plan on sending along 10 memory devices and that might be a problem for people not familiar with computers (and trying to use XCOPY).

Thanks again,

Sy S

 

[file3456]

I'm not sure if Fastcopy will work or not, it may. It's primarily used for long path names and not names them selves, but since the name is part of the path it may in fact work. Download FastCopy - MajorGeeks

Related: How To Rename Multiple Files (Windows) | Ubergizmo

 

[townsbg]

Move the files closer to the root of the drive instead of nested in a bunch of subfolders. That will shorten the name because the character count includes the folders. You can also shorten the name of the folders and that will shorten the name character count for all of the files in the folder.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi townsbg,

Move the files closer to the root of the drive instead of nested in a bunch of subfolders. That will shorten the name because the character count includes the folders. You can also shorten the name of the folders and that will shorten the name character count for all of the files in the folder.

Excellent information [Rep added].

 

[townsbg]

There is more on that here: Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces (Windows)

 

[Sy S]

Hello Towsbg,
>>Move the files closer to the root of the drive instead of nested in a bunch of subfolders. ....<<

My cousin mentioned this and I also was planning on trying the above as well... good idea. Will get to it when
I have the time.

Thanks again to you and others,

Sy S

 

[mrjimphelps]

Open up a command prompt. Type C:. Then change to the folder where the items are now located.
Now type E: (or whatever the drive letter is for the external drive). Then change to the folder where the items are to be copied to.
Now type COPY C:*.* E:

By doing the above, you are dealing only with the file names, not the paths.

 

[Sy S]

Hello mrjimphelps,

Thanks for your contribution to this thread... interesting solution you posted. My problem is I don't have
time to deal with this right now.... unfortunately. That is, bypassing the "Paths" and just dealing with files.

However, I do appreciate peoples quick replies.

Sy S