We experience problems when users create folder structures that exceed the 256-character limitation that Windows applications enforce. When we performed a recent migration, Robocopy produced a lot of errors concerning long pathnames. When I tried Robocopy XP010, I experienced no long-pathname errors. How does Robocopy XP010 handle long pathnames?
By default, Robocopy XP010 can copy the filenames and folder names that exceed the 256-character limit—to a theoretical 32,000 characters—without logging any errors. If you want to force Robocopy to produce such errors so that you can see where your long-pathname problems originate, use the /256 switch. This switch causes Robocopy to produce errors that are similar to those with which you're familiar. Remember, though, that some user applications might not be able to access paths whose names exceed the 256-character length, and long pathnames might complicate verification of a successful copy.
If you plan to use the resource kit's Diruse directory-size comparison tool or another utility to verify your copy success, the tool might have long-pathname limitations that give you different results between the source and destination. Suppose you have a share named \FileServer1\ShareA that contains only one file. This 10MB file, called LongFile.txt, is many folders deep in the file structure and has a 253-character path length. You use Robocopy to copy this file to another server, thereby adding one more level to the path: \FileServer2\ShareB\OldShareA. Without realizing it, you've increased the path length by 10 characters. Robocopy will copy the file successfully (unless you use the /256 option to force an error). . . .
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asapcs-syr September 16, 2005 (Article Rating: