Long file name windows to netapp filer nightmare!!

[andrew12]

Hello all,

I'm trying to move about 40GB of data from 2 windows nt4 servers to a netapp filer.

Xcopy will not work as despite the fact the filer emulates a windows 2000 member server it cannot be accessed via 16 bit windows apps so I'm having to do a manual drag and drop.

Unfortunately the path to some of the files is greater than 256 characters so it is failing. With xcopy I could get it to ignore these errors and press on but with a drag and drop one failure ends the copy process.

Another issue seems to be that the final folders the windows boxes copy over to the filer (ie the ones furthest down the structure as it is able to copy) appear as a share from the NT servers and is not accessible from anywhere (even to administrators). When right-clicked you don't even get a properties option!

Has anyone had any experience with copying data from windows platforms to netapp devices?

 

[mattjurado]

2 problems here...

1. You are copying files/folders to an appliance that doesn't seem to have users/security groups setup yet. That is the likely reason for your inability to access those shares. If you still can't get it, call their tech support for help.

2. You are indeed going to have problems using XCOPY with file paths this long. Unfortunately, you are looking at this the wrong way. It isn't a problem with the appliance. No matter where you try to copy the files to, even another MS server, it will likely fail. See if you can rename some of the longer folder names to shorten the overall path length, then try again. Hopefully, the files aren't too deep that Windows itself can no longer access them.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[andrew12]

The security groups on the appliance have already been set up. As I'm sure you know it emulates a win 2000 member server.

I agree that the problem is definitely on the NT side, but I think I've found a way round it:

I mapped a drive to the server from my (XP) laptop and was able to copy the data down without any problems. I was then able to copy it to the filer.