Long File Name and Other Copy Issues Windows

When copying your recovered files from the target drive provided by DriveSavers to a computer with the Windows operating system, you may encounter an error that claims a file or files have names that are too long. This error is referring to the length of the entire path of a file.

Example of a file path: C:\user\docs\Letter.txt

In order to successfully copy a file from your external target drive to your Windows computer, the file path must be under 255 characters from beginning to end, including the drive letter (in the example above, the drive letter is “C”). Windows allows you to create a file path that is longer than this, but will not allow you to copy it.

To get around this issue, we recommend that you copy the recovery directly to the root of the drive that you are backing up to, i.e. C:\.

If you are still encountering long file name error messages, then we recommend using a utility program such as Total Commander. This type of utility will also allow a copy to continue if it encounters a file that it cannot copy, such as a shortcut or a 0k file. In other words, it helps prevent interruption to the process of copying your data from your target drive to your computer. Download Total Commander

If you have already copied most of the data from your target drive to your Windows computer but believe you may be missing some files, other utilities can help. TreeSize Free is a utility that shows folder and file sizes. You can use this program to compare folders on your target drive to folders that you have copied to your Windows computer. In this way, you can then find where there are discrepancies. Download TreeSize Free.