Family Historian User Group

/*** Caveat - not thinking this is a problem with the V6 Backup very large files (12034) specific instance, but worth mentioning with backups as a topic as I believe represents good working practice ***/

I have also found file path length can have an adverse effect on backups in the past.

By path length that is to say a file called abc.txt (6 characters) if located in, for example, C:\Users\Phil\Documents\Family Historian Projects\Family Historian Sample Project\Family Historian Sample Project.fh_data\Media\Certificates\abc.txt is actually 148 characters in length.
If this were to be backed up then in a similar location it can be very easy to get to over 255 characters in length.

Whilst theoretically Windows Vista/7/8 can handle such long strings, a 255 character limit is still hard coded into the registry and this can sometimes crop up making copying and or deleting a file almost impossible.

(windows will allow a save to create a 300 character string, then refuse to delete the file as it exceeds 255! - a common issue at MS Technet)

I use a small free app (portable so no need to install) called TLPD which can help identify these long paths and ultimately let you shorten them prior to making a backup.
it can be found at http://sourceforge.net/projects/tlpd/

as i say, i dont think this is nescessarily relevant to the OP's specific occurance, however I thought i'd add to this thread as it is always something worth thinking about in the realms of backups

bloodbrotheruk - good point, FH does create rather long pathnames which means I tend to be a little more crypic than I would otherwise be, especially with my test and none main projects.

Another good and more flexible long filename checker here, also standalone (I incorporate mine into Liberkey)
http://dcsoft.com/products/longff/longff.htm

Hello there,

I´d recommend that you use Long Path Tool, it will enable you to fix the problem in a click.... I´ve used it several times. Highly recommendable

The reason why you´re struggling is becase Microsoft has a core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that programmers can use to interact with applications in the Windows operating system. These programming interfaces are often referred to as the Windows API. The Windows API imposes a maximum filename length such that a filename, including the file path to get to the file, can't exceed between 255-260 characters.

FYI: To be precise the Windows path limit is 260 characters, which includes the C:\ at the beginning, the folder path, filename & extension, and null character at the end. So when the C:\ drive and terminating null are discounted that leaves 256 characters for the actual pathname.

There are some technically tricky workarounds, and Windows 10 now allows the limit to be relaxed, BUT only if all your applications such as FH and AS can handle those longer file paths.