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Identify files for which names are too long

Hello,

Occasionally when I am attempting to copy or transfer a large number of folder/files from one drive to another, I get an error notice saying some file(s) in the group I'm trying to transfer has a name which is too long. It then suggests that I go in and shorten the name.

The problem is that, it doesn't tell me anything about the directory of the problem file. And even worse, the entire process is aborted so none of the files (even those with short names) are moved.

Questions:
When that alert occurs, is it referring only to the name of the actual file or does it include its entire directory (ie from C:\…on)? In other words, might it help to move the file up a few generations to a folder closer to Drive C?
What is the limit or maximum number of characters that will transfer successfully (in Windows 7)?
Is there a way to avoid the problem, by some kind of filtered search to find long filenames or with an addon or app or any other workaround?

Thanks
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David Johnson, CD
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the only method that i found was splitting the number of folders up into groups, and look which ones can be copied - and which not
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Church Gate

If you want to check using command prompt then try following commands,

dir /s /b | sort /r /+261 > out.txt

or (faster):

dir /s /b | sort /r /+261 /o out.txt

And lines longer than 260 will get to the top of listing.
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Thanks for all the great responses. Lots of different ways to skin a cat, huh?