So there I was, trying to decide what to do about xyz, when it suddenly occurred that I hadn't actually done a full system backup for a good few months, having been dashing off Julina stories and the like.
So I thought, on Saturday afternoon, I would just invest the few hours it would take, and instigated a full backup.
This was a mistake.
Several problems raised their 'pretty' heads.
One amused me no end: Certain files had names that were too long to be copied ..... huh????
They exist here on the computer with those names, but can't be copied because the names are wrong. Nice reasoning, "Powers-that-be".
Most of the files that fell into this category were in my music collection, to which I add at least something at least every week.
So it seems I now have 33,471 different titles, and my sorted collection exceeds 150 GB.
So I started to tidy up some of the sorting, in the mistaken belief that it would be swiftly done.
Hah!
Got sucked in, big time.
So today (here in Europe) it is Wednesday morning, and I have been doing this domesticity on my computer ever since Saturday afternoon, with one night duty thrown in as well.
This morning, at 0617, the final copy finished.
Now maybe, I can get back to the more important things in life, like Anmarian tales.
Lots in the pipeline folks.
Cheers
Julia.
Comments
Banging your head against the wall
You are experiencing somthing that many of us fight against on a daily basis.
Often the path to the file is too long and not the filename itself.
If you reduce the length or depth then you can backup the files.
You can also encounter this if the target device is not formatted the same way as your Hard Drive.
I generally don't backup individual titles in my 50Gb Music Archive. I create a compressed archive of the Album and backup that.
That said, my Archive device can hold up to 20Tb of data. This year I have added more than 500Gb of data to it mainly in Photos.
Well done for sticking with it though. Many people would have given up long before they got anywhere near finished.
now that you have it you should be able to do incremental archives on a regular basis.
Samantha
There's something to be said
for buying music CDs. It might be more expensive in the short term but if you costed your time, you could have bought quite a few.
Angharad
Yes, but what if your phone
Yes, but what if your phone doesn't have a CD Player attachment to listen to the CD's with?
Listening to CD's on your Phone etc
I buy all my music on CD's. No Downloads. I just pop the CD into the Cd/DVD Drive and rip the songs. Even itunes has long had the ability to rip CD's and put the music into your iTunes Library. There are apps on Windows and Linux that do the same.
mp3/m4a/flac
Yeah, but you still generally would backup the mp3/m4a/flac files so that you don't incur the hassle of re-ripping them. Which puts you into the issue of having the long directory structure/file name issue still, thereby negating the convenience of CD's. The vehicle we are looking at, doesn't even have a CD player, just a Stereo with Bluetooth audio and aux so we would be able to Stream music from the Phone, or an iPod like device, or listen to the radio but not pop in a CD :)
(Don't get me wrong, I have a large collection of CD's, DVD's BluRay etc, but I prefer watching via a streaming service or my personal streaming server [Plex], But I love having physical copies also )
It could be that the path name is too long.
A common problem when MS Windows complains about long file names is that it is actually the path name that is too long i.e. c:/user/.../.../... etc. Especially if the folder names have long names. The best approach is then too flatten the directory structure to reduce the path name rather than edit the file names. It is also usually easier to cope with shortening the folder names rather than the file names as for a starter you usually shorten the path name for a large number of files with a single folder name change.
Use *cough* linux
Even MAC OSX has a limit of 1024 characters for full pathname of a file and Linux OS can range from 1024 to 4096, depending on version. Windblows limits it to 266, - booooooo.
I use Linux on a day to day
I use Linux on a day to day basis, for servers and for workstations. It's not for everyone, and it has its quirks. For example, if you try to use filenames or directories with spaces, you have to escape the spaces. (This is expected behaviour - spaces are control characters). So you can end up having to type a filename of /home/bibliophage/Documents/contract\ for\ Jehovah\'s\ Witnesses.mpg
It's annoying sometimes. Now, what's REALLY annoying is that if I copy files to NTFS from linux that contain colons (when I save a story from fictionmania, it has a "FictionMania story:" at the beginning of the filename), it copies _to_ NTFS fine. If I plug it into a windows pc, and try to copy it off, the windows PC goes nuts, refuses to touch the files, and won't even rename them - despite the file system supporting it. I don't know if the pipe symbol that shows up here is the same way or not - I haven't tried. (Easy As Falling Off A Bike pt 2509 | BigCloset TopShelf.html - for example)
Let's just say there are good and bad things about all of the operating systems, and leave it at that.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
escape the spaces?
I have been using Linux since 1998 [ yes, the 2.2 kerrnel days ], and have never had to escape spaces in file names or folder names.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
When using a non-gui file
When using a non-gui file manager, and copying via command line (as is most my interaction with Linux/Unix systems) then you HAVE to escape your spaces.
-Piper
Cross copying, sure.
There are going to be problems. Windows has that stupid drive letter setup. Of course if you work solely in Linux then it is a non-issue. OSX supports 1024 like I said, so work from a Mac, why bother with switching around. I agree though that I have yet to see a whitespace issue except when scripting where whitespaces can wreak havoc. As for BC pages, I go ahead and save the original file name and not the html defined one so there are no whitespaces in the file names I save. That 266 character length is a killer though.
I hope
I hope you don't get the problem I did one time.
I just backed up 500 GB of data, and tested a new distro, completely wiped the data partition. [ %^%&^^& Fedora using LVM by default when it shouldn't F* with existing partition structure ]
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
I've never understood problems with name length in files
Even when messing around with lots of different files -- whether they be game mods, backups, or anything else -- I've never come close to approaching 200 characters in a file name or directory location.
Then again, I'm more likely to multi-partition a hard drive and have partitions devoted to certain things, or just drop everything within a directory off root if possible. Even when organizing folders within folders if necessary, I won't go further than 3 layers deep, and then only if I'm gonna have the master folder within, again, a directory of separation from root.
On my desktop I have two hard drives: one for writing, games, and OS, and the other for everything else, meaning every album I have can be gotten to as simply as going to D:\Music, and all my backups for game installs and such are D:\games, gaming books are D:\books, etc. Other than Steam and Windows OS itself, there's about nothing I use on my computer I let operate deeper than two levels or so if I can help it. Keeps character length on file locations nice and short most of the time.
Or am I missing something vital about the way other people organize their files?
Melanie E.
Drive letters are their own nightmare
And I am pretty sure most people don't multi-partiition a single drive. The average user will do everything off of C: and stick to the normal directories under the home directory. Plug in drives for example can potentially get a random drive letter so synchronizing them to the other plug in means you have to know what drive letter they are. Unix like file systems allow you to specifically mount a drive in a particular location off of a single file hierarchy. Windows is still convenient in some ways but is still extremely backwards in others but I have to grant that Windows is better than its 8 and 3 days :).
I like partitions!
If you've got the drive space to start with and you're installing a clean copy of the OS (and you always SHOULD,) then partitions are easy peasy to do, Linux, Windows, or whatever, and quite convenient.
Well, I think so.
*shrug*
I am a bit of a geek, though. The only reason my current desktop isn't partitioned all to hell is because of the second completely separate drive, meaning I can ignore all but the most basic management of the first drive in exchange for going crazy on the second one without limiting space for game installs.
I REALLY need to upgrade those things soon. 500 gigs spread across two drives just isn't enough nowadays, and 1 TB drives are pretty cheap now. Maybe here in another year....
Melanie E.
Windows gets a BAD rep.
I don't multi-partition my C-Drive, but my Media Drives, aren't using a drive letter in windows either.
I have my C-Drive as a simple 500GB drive, and then I store my music/media on a 3-drive span partition mounted as c:\media using NTFS on my windows 7 tower/server. You can mount partitions just like folders in windows much like you can linux, with the exception of CD-Drives and Portable Media so I really don't see drive-letter system as being an issue.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of Unix and Linux systems for those that can get used to them, but at the same time, I think Windows REALLY HAS been getting a bad wrap in recent years. I love Windows 8.1 on my tablet, and even my laptop (Admittedly I use ClassicShell on my laptop). I'm quite happily looking forward to Windows 10 :)
Windows 8 and 8.1 have a
Windows 8 and 8.1 have a deservedly bad reputation. If they had marketed Windows 8 to the touch screen crowd _only_, then there wouldn't have been a huge backlash. Instead, they were telling desktop/business users that they should treat their computers as big tablets; only use one app at a time, drive everything through online services only, etc.
It seems like they're on track for a Star Trek set of OSes. Bad, then good, then bad, then good.... Windows 9 is being pushed forward HARD, because 8 was so bad. (much like Windows 7 after Vista) (I've read the only real difference is that they give back the start menu. Idiots, they could do that with a service pack - but then they couldn't _sell_ fixing what they shouldn't have broken in the first place)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I like Windows 8/8.1
Like I said, I use Windows 8/8.1 with "classicshell" which gives me back my start menu, and boots me to "desktop" mode by default. But that being said, I would install this combination of things on a new laptop/desktop BEFORE I did Windows 7. Not that I dislike 7, but I like the option of having universal metro apps and desktop applications side by side. And even without Classic Shell, there was NOTHING stopping normal desktop application usage using the "metro" menu/user interface, with standard windows tiling and such. Just choose not to use a metro app for whatever. Or share you metro app with the desktop.
BTW, to avoid the odd-number even-number stuff, windows 10 will be the next release :), and Windows Vista, was the result of people PUSHING Microsoft to release an OS before it was ready, because they missed to many deadlines. That's why 7 was able to be released so fast. It's just Vista, but "finished" properly.
Windows 8/8.1's primarily Touch interface, was just Microsoft trying to do the same thing Google. Apple and everyone else are trying to do, make one Mobile/Tablet/Desktop OS for EVERYTHING.
I don't think 8 is so bad IF it is being sold correctly.
Windows 8 is somewhat more processor/memory efficient than 7, and as far as learning to use the OS for a newcomer to computers is at least as simple as 7 and earlier versions were.
On the other hand... where Windows 8 falls down is the fact that a lot of people aren't either newcomers to computers OR super computer literate/adaptable. This, I believe, is the problem with 8: for the mass number of users out there who have spent the last 20 years or so struggling to manage things as simple as double clicking and file/window management, Windows 8 is a complete shock to the system that will frustrate them and confuse them, and makes switching back and forth between computers using it and older OSes harder than it needs to be. Working at Wal Mart in the electronics department I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a PC running Windows 8 for purchase for a teenager, or even older couples who haven't used a computer before, or people who in general aren't going to use it for much. For people who used a computer every day, though, especially those who did so but still struggled with it, I would always warn them about the issues they would face trying to adapt. Sure, 8.1 brings back some of the original functions, in a way, but it is still a VERY different beast than previous iterations, and unlike with the change to NT-based platforms in the early 2000's, there really wasn't a solid reason for the change, at least not for removing any kind of real pointer reference to the way things worked before.
As for the Star Trek comment on Windows releases, I've been saying that for YEARS, and let's face it, 8.1 counts as the GOOD release here more than likely, since it was a significant enough upgrade to actually change the name of the OS (much like 3.1 is considered it's own specific upgrade.) I have hopes for Windows 10, but I'm fully prepared to see them thrashed, and frankly, I'm just sitting here waiting for the day Microsoft finally decides it would be profitable enough to lease Direct X support without belting it on to their OS, either that or for it to be replaced in nigh every game that uses it, finally making Linux or, *ugh,* even iOS a reasonable alternative for AAA games.
Melanie E.
According to an acquaintence
According to an acquaintence who works for Microsoft in the A/V department, Vista was actually _very_ stable and fast when they wrote it. Then the Marketing and Legal idiots got involved, and forced adding things like DRM into the interfaces, and screwed (his word was more pungent) it up.
Running normal programs was _not_ (is not) easy without Classic Shell. Neither is changing basic settings and everything else you might normally use a start menu for.
As for the common interface - Apple hasn't tried to make their desktops the same as the tablets, which is a smart thing. Again, if Microsoft had done the smart thing, and had the OS detect touch screens, and ONLY then offer Metro (and left the start menu intact), then they'd have had a winning system.
Another problem is the licensing for Windows 8. If your bios gets FUBAR, you're forced to hand them more money. As you don't _get_ a physical copy of the OS, you can't even repartition or reinstall your OS in a clean fashion. Even better, if you buy an upgrade (home to pro), it's then locked to the same physical PC/serial number as the original OS.
They're _really_ trying to get themselves embroiled in another lawsuit. Federal law is pretty clear - if you pay money for software, you own _your_ copy of the program. Microsoft keeps pushing for "No, no, you aren't buying software. You're renting it."
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I just rebuilt a system for a
I just rebuilt a system for a friend, where the Motherboard, CPU, and Memory changed. What stayed the same was the Boot Drive, and the Video Card.
MS did require this friend to phone them, to re-activate their copy of windows, but there was NO ISSUE with doing this. MS had no issue re-activating their windows.
As for licensing, OEM copies of Windows 8.1 I believe are supposed to drop below $40 per copy. While it's not as nice as the "free" that Apple gives for buying their hardware, you aren't locked into one hardware provider either, and it's causing the price of new laptops and tablets to drop drastically.
And it was always Steve Job's desire for "One Platform". Things have changed since he passed, but not in a good way.
Was this a home built system,
Was this a home built system, or an OEM system? The OEM systems do _not_ have serial numbers available. They're programmed into the motherboards (Dell, HP, etc). If you replace the motherboard, you _must_ use an exact OEM replacement, and maybe you can reprogram it.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
But it is the portable media that I want to behave that way
I want to be able to plug in portable media and come up in the same location (drive letter) if possible so I can swap out collections as I please and a media program would know to look there automatically. At least with some flavors of linux you get the /media mounting as you know.
Of course what to me trumps everything is the lack of a registry on linux.
And honestly there is less need to fresh install linux than Windblows.