Files and Directory Length/Naming Issues

[Guest Shaun EN]

As with most companies users love to bury their files and folders a billion

levels deep. Now I know Microsoft has said in a MSDN article the maximum

path length should be 260 characters (correct me if I'm wrong). Now ive been

able to print out the directories using a third party software and see some

of our directory's are around 295 characters and that's not including the

file name!

 

What I want to find out is what happens when you start going past the

maximum length. What kinds of issues will you have? I'm trying to find some

technical documents that point out there might be browsing issues or slowness

when opening files or something to that effect.

 

On our array drive only one folder is having problems. When you click on a

folder it takes about 1-2 minutes before the contents are displayed, then

again for any other folders below that. So it takes a long long time to

browse to the file your looking for. That's right on the server, NOT via UNC

path or Mapped Drives.

 

Any insight into this and the maximum length would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Files and Directory Length/Naming Issues

 

 

"Shaun EN" <ShaunEN@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:B9E0E602-BD35-4553-8B47-EA06D4559BC6@microsoft.com...

> As with most companies users love to bury their files and folders a

> billion

> levels deep. Now I know Microsoft has said in a MSDN article the maximum

> path length should be 260 characters (correct me if I'm wrong). Now ive

> been

> able to print out the directories using a third party software and see

> some

> of our directory's are around 295 characters and that's not including the

> file name!

>

> What I want to find out is what happens when you start going past the

> maximum length. What kinds of issues will you have? I'm trying to find

> some

> technical documents that point out there might be browsing issues or

> slowness

> when opening files or something to that effect.

>

> On our array drive only one folder is having problems. When you click on

> a

> folder it takes about 1-2 minutes before the contents are displayed, then

> again for any other folders below that. So it takes a long long time to

> browse to the file your looking for. That's right on the server, NOT via

> UNC

> path or Mapped Drives.

>

> Any insight into this and the maximum length would be appreciated.

> Thanks

>

 

There are a few native tools and applications in Windows that

will be able to access files beyond the 256 character limit, e.g.

ntbackup.exe or robocopy.exe. The vast majority will tell you

"File not found".

 

About your problem folder: I suspect some file system corruption.

Check the Event Viewer and/or copy the folder to a different

location, then erase the original.

[Guest Shaun EN]

Re: Files and Directory Length/Naming Issues

 

I don't get any error messages and have no idea which files or folders are

corrupt. It is just very slow to browse as I mentioned before.

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

>

> "Shaun EN" <ShaunEN@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:B9E0E602-BD35-4553-8B47-EA06D4559BC6@microsoft.com...

> > As with most companies users love to bury their files and folders a

> > billion

> > levels deep. Now I know Microsoft has said in a MSDN article the maximum

> > path length should be 260 characters (correct me if I'm wrong). Now ive

> > been

> > able to print out the directories using a third party software and see

> > some

> > of our directory's are around 295 characters and that's not including the

> > file name!

> >

> > What I want to find out is what happens when you start going past the

> > maximum length. What kinds of issues will you have? I'm trying to find

> > some

> > technical documents that point out there might be browsing issues or

> > slowness

> > when opening files or something to that effect.

> >

> > On our array drive only one folder is having problems. When you click on

> > a

> > folder it takes about 1-2 minutes before the contents are displayed, then

> > again for any other folders below that. So it takes a long long time to

> > browse to the file your looking for. That's right on the server, NOT via

> > UNC

> > path or Mapped Drives.

> >

> > Any insight into this and the maximum length would be appreciated.

> > Thanks

> >

>

> There are a few native tools and applications in Windows that

> will be able to access files beyond the 256 character limit, e.g.

> ntbackup.exe or robocopy.exe. The vast majority will tell you

> "File not found".

>

> About your problem folder: I suspect some file system corruption.

> Check the Event Viewer and/or copy the folder to a different

> location, then erase the original.

>

>

>