SyncToy exception with long path

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Guest

I've been using SyncToy to keep local copies of files previously stored on a
network. I can now work locally and synchronise changes after I finish. It's
more reliable than working straight off my file server, which tends to crash
without warning, and it also means I automatically have a backup of all my
important files.

However one really irritating problem I'm encountering is that SyncToy
throws an exception when the path name of files I want to synchronise is
longer than 260 characters. The error is as follows:

Exception during preview: The path is too long after being fully qualified.
Make sure path is less than 260 characters.

After that, synchronisation won't work at all - not even with the paths that
are less than 260 characters.

Unfortunately SyncToy won't tell me exactly *which* path is too long. I have
thousands of files I'm trying to keep synchronised and it's just not feasible
for me to go back and check through them all for long paths.

Any suggestions? Any possibility of tweaking SyncToy so it warns you which
file names and paths to change, rather than just throwing an exception?

Thanks

Chris M
 
Hi Chris -

I've relayed this issue to the development team working on SyncToy and will
let you know what I find out.

Thanks,
 
I too am experiencing this problem, but I would go a step further than Chris
M. Rather than just asking to know which path is too long, I'd rather the
260-character limitation not exist at all. Previously I had been using a
shareware program called FileSync, and it never had a problem with my path
lengths.
 
I too am experiencing this problem, but I would go a step further than
Chris
M. Rather than just asking to know which path is too long, I'd rather the
260-character limitation not exist at all. Previously I had been using a
shareware program called FileSync, and it never had a problem with my path
lengths.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's a limitation of the program, but rather, the underlying
file system.

But I would agree that SyncToy doesn't seem to be handling the limitation
*properly*--it'll choke on some paths that are *definitely* well within 260
characters.
 
Homer J. Simpson said:
I don't think that's a limitation of the program, but rather, the underlying
file system.

But I would agree that SyncToy doesn't seem to be handling the limitation
*properly*--it'll choke on some paths that are *definitely* well within 260
characters.
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right. SyncToy appears to be choking on path lengths that are
less than 260 characters. I did a bit of rooting around in my directories
and, while I have some deep paths, none are close to 260 characters long.
And, as I mentioned before, I've been syncing for years with a shareware app
"FileSync" with never a problem about path lengths.
 
I don't think that's a limitation of the program, but rather, the
Yes, you're right. SyncToy appears to be choking on path lengths that are
less than 260 characters. I did a bit of rooting around in my directories
and, while I have some deep paths, none are close to 260 characters long.
And, as I mentioned before, I've been syncing for years with a shareware
app
"FileSync" with never a problem about path lengths.
Click to expand...

The problem seems particularly bad if you're trying to copy files over to a
remote machine and use a UNC path for the target, eg
\\machinename\sharename\blah counts as 28 characters, whereas a mapped drive
("X:\blah") counts as 7 characters. SyncToy needs to be more intelligent
about UNC paths.
 
Thanks Chris,

We think we've made this better in V1. Please let us know what you think.

george
 
Hi, I just downloaded SynToy today and I am having the same problem still,
with the newest version. It does, however, now tell me which folder creates
the problem.

Is this a bug or just a limitation with longer paths (i.e. can and will it
be fixed?).

I don't really know what I am talking about, but XP's way of adding
"C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\" to all the folders would
'chew' up quite a bit of the 260 letter restriction (if that is where the
restrictions lies at all...). So if you add a bit more categorisation to the
files, for example "My Pictures\Holidays\Australia\Easter\2005\koala.jpg" you
would 'run out' of letters rapidly.

I champion the idea of a free sync-tool from Microsoft and to me it is yet
another demonstration of the company's willingness to assist their customers
with computer and data security matters. This 260 limitation, however, may
make people turn to other software (as mentioned in the thread) which does
not have such restrictions.

So is there a why to bypass this restriction?

Cheers,
Tom
 
Hi,

If you try out the new SyncToy 2.0 Beta release (download from
microsoft.com\downloads), it should be able to skip files with long paths and
still sync the rest of the files without any problems. We'll most like start
syncing files with long paths in a future release but for now atleast your
entire sync won't fail. Let us know how it works out if you try out the 2.0
release.

Thanks,
Ashish Shah
SyncToy Development
 
I have a LOT of files with very long paths - what is the expected behavior
with long pathed files that are not saved?

Related, what happens if a file cannot be saved? As a really typical
example, we can save Favorite links to web pages where the title contains
valid HTML codes which are not valid filenames. In my experience, backup
software commonly dies, or skips these shortcut files without warning. These
links also cause a lot of backup programs to choke due to long HTML titles
that, when added to a full Documents and Settings path, exceed 250+ character
limits.

Thanks.
 
Tony, as I mentioned below, files with long paths will be skipped (with
corresponding error reported in the SyncToy UI). Let us know if this is not
what you see.
 
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