Eight character filenames

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astral_cyborg
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:02 am

Eight character filenames

Post by astral_cyborg »

Hello.

I have a small problem with the the result of some files. Their file names are displayed with 8 characters (like DOS names, ending with ~1) instead of their full filenames.
For example a file called "Abcdefghijklm.file" is displayed as "Abcdef~1.file".

Thus, I cannot find them with normal file search (hopefully, if I have the "Match Path" option of Everything enabled, I can find them through their folder names results).

This happens especially on .mp3 files (usually on latest copies from external sources or downloads). I'm not sure if it happens after id3 tags modifications or not. But I remember that occasionally, I've encountered that kind of results with other filetypes, too.

If I copy these files in another partition of my hard disk and then re-copy them to their original place, then their names get fixed and they can be displayed in my Everything search results normally.

Any ideas how to prevent that phenomenon? My OS is Windows 7 x64 and I use my hard disks in RAID-0.

Thank you.
astral_cyborg
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:02 am

Re: Eight character filenames

Post by astral_cyborg »

Ok, I've noticed that after renaming the short-named files and restoring their titles again, the search results of Everything are now displayed both with full and short names, on the same path.

After some time passes, the search results get restored and display correctly. Does that have to do with the index of Everything or with Windows (MTF or something)?

Is there any way to restore the search results manually?

Thank you.
therube
Posts: 4609
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Re: Eight character filenames

Post by therube »

I'm going to venture to say that they are in fact either SFN or file names that happen to have a '~' in them.

If you were to drop to a C: prompt & do a:

Code: Select all

C:>  DIR  /X   FILENA~1.JPG
... Then if only one filename (on a line) is returned, then it is a SFN.
If more then one filename appears on a line, then it is a LFN that appears as if it were a SFN.

If there is only one filename listed on the line, & it is listed leftmost, then it is a SFN:

Code: Select all

O:\OLD.OTHER\WEBCOW\tmp\FeeKaroke>dir /x blackh*.kar
 Volume in drive O is OTHERNOLD

 Directory of O:\OLD.OTHER\FeeKaroke

12/16/1996  03:46 PM            55,738              BLACKH~1.KAR
               1 File(s)         55,738 bytes
               0 Dir(s)   3,474,591,744 bytes free
If there is only one filename listed on the line, & it is listed rightmost, then it is a LFN.
If there are two filenames listed on the line, then there are both SFN & LFNs for that file:

Code: Select all

C:\TMP>dir ap2* /x
 Volume in drive C is ZAR7C95

 Directory of C:\TMP

11/19/2010  03:34 PM             1,714              AP2S
12/19/2002  09:51 AM             1,636 AP2S~1.103   AP2S.103102
12/08/2003  11:47 AM             1,868 AP2SA~1.120  ap2sa.120803
12/30/2003  03:27 PM             1,656 AP2SA~2.123  AP2SA.123003
12/31/2002  02:23 PM             1,815 AP2SA~1.123  ap2sa.1231
12/31/2007  01:56 PM             1,020 AP2SA~3.123  AP2SA.123107
12/31/2007  12:42 PM             1,444 AP2SA1~1.B4  AP2SA.123107.b4
01/16/2008  02:14 PM             1,285              AP2SA.13
01/11/2002  04:18 PM             2,769              AP2SA.B5
02/09/2004  03:51 PM             1,921              AP2SA.feb
11/29/1999  11:22 AM             1,696              AP2S~1.SAF
11/19/2010  03:34 PM            18,517              AP2X
12/08/2003  11:47 AM            20,547 AP2XA~1.120  ap2xa.120803
12/30/2003  03:27 PM            18,056 AP2XA~2.123  AP2XA.123003
12/31/2002  02:23 PM            19,768 AP2XA~1.123  ap2xa.1231
12/31/2007  01:56 PM            10,090 AP2XA~3.123  AP2XA.123107
12/31/2007  12:42 PM            16,343 AP2XA1~1.B4  AP2XA.123107.b4
01/16/2008  02:14 PM            13,245              AP2XA.13
01/11/2002  04:18 PM            32,023              AP2XA.B5
02/09/2004  03:51 PM            21,101              AP2XA.feb
              20 File(s)        188,514 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  21,518,938,112 bytes free
Note the file: AP2S~1.SAF. It looks it is SFN but in reality it is only a filename that happens to have a '~' in it.
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