I have never been able to copy / move  "my documents" folder from its
location on C drive to another drive.  In the past i used to get "file
name ____ too long" ... at which point I would go into mydocs, find
and delete the long named file ... However, when i would then restart
the move to secondary drive i would get another 'file name ___ too
long" ... this went on for many files until each time i gave up either
out of time or frustrated. (I did note when deleting the files that
they were mostly files associated with saved webpages.)  Today, after
months of not backing up all the data in mydocs directory I tried
again to move mydocs folder to secondary drive and I get the simple
message "cannot copy file:" but no file name is provided.  It seems
the problem is file name length again.  The secondary drive is a 100GB
USB external drive, there is no issue with
performance/compatibility/capacity fo the secondary media.   Soooo,
here are my several related questions:

1. is there a utility or a method by which i can automate the
identification and/or removal of files with more than the Windows
allowed length?

2. If just moving the mydocs folder is not the best way to create
backups of the mydocs directory then what is?  I want a copy of the
directory structure of the C drive mydocs on a secondary drive.  I
would REALLY like a utility that compares files/folders in mydocs on C
drive and secondary drive and finds the files/folders in on C mydocs
that are new/changed then simply moves those to secondary drive. In
the past I used a windows utility that created a single compressed
package/file backup of mydocs ... I ran that utility weekly for some
time and it was supposedly adding just the new/changed files to the
backup package but I didn't trust that i would ever be able to get the
files from it and stopped using it when i got a new computer couple
computers back.

2. What is the windows allowed name length?   Seems weird that I could
end up with files on my C drive that have names that are not allowed
by Win - but not asking the question of how that happens ;-)

Not sure this is possible in the Google Answers model but, I would be
happy to pay an extra $5.00 - i.e., $20 total -  if you can point me
to a program that will do all that i want in 1) i.e., duplicate the
mydocs directory structure on secondary drive and backup
incrementally.


Thanks a lot
Tony

---

Clarification of Question by tonyatdigitalplaces-ga on 30 Jun 2005 19:14 PDT

ooops, never told you that I am running Windows XP Professional with
SP2 installed and I am the only user so also the administrator of the
computer.

You will only run into the trouble of file name length when you are
using a network drive to back up your data. My suggestion would be to
save the "My Documents" folder on a drive that is actually hard wired
within your computer and not a drive that is networked. If this is not
possible, make use of an CD burner, External hard drive (some MP3
players can be used as this) or if it is just too large the an
Internet storage site that will allow you to upload your data to them
while you reformat :)

Here ya go.....

Take a look at this link:

http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/backup/1.htm
This explains why you might not want NTBACKUP but it is an option and
here is how to use it:
http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/backup/ntbackup.htm

and
http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/backup/other.htm
This gives you software that is either free or has free trials and
will backup to removable media.

Make sure its doing what you want with a free trial by backing up and
resotreing a small directory with subdirectories.

I would try this one first: http://www.handybackup.com/

If you could syncronize your files with your usb drive it would be a
beautiful thing and save you time by not re-backing up.

There is also another way to move the MY DOCUMENTS folder.  Open it,
right click on it, select Properties, change the Target Drive to where
you want things to go and select Move.  It will handle the path
situation.

Let me know how it goes.

I use the folder syncronizer included with vcom's Powerdesk pro 6 to
backup folders among networked computers.  Never had any problems with
long filenames< and i use the same version of windows you are.  It
works with my documents with no problems.
http://www.v-com.com/product/PowerDesk_Pro_Home.html

If you didn't want to get that program, do a search for folder
syncronizer on google and there are several programs available.

From personal experience I find that Windows built in backup utility
"NTbackup" (Found in Start -> Programs -> Accesories -> System Tools
->Backup) is the cheapest and easiest to use.  You have the ability to
select your "My Documents" folder only, and you can even set it up to
back up on a schedule (I have mine set to once a week at an odd hour
such as 4am so I am not interrupted while doing work).  I would also
recommend backing up your "System State Data" in case of registry or
program link problems you may face in the future.  I'm sure others may
have negative things to say about ntbackup but there are negative
things to say about everything, I have personally never had any
problems.  This should also solve the problem of file names exceeding
certain limits as the backup file will be saved as one file and the
name will be to your choosing.  255 characters is the max for a file
name in XP.  Also make sure your external HD is in New Technology File
Format (NTFS) and not in FAT.  If it's in FAT I recommend conversion
to NTFS (You will not loose any data, BUT you cannot revert back to
FAT).  Hope this helps!