Why does BC allow very long paths/names when Explorer doesn't?

[arjaydavis]

When I copy or move files with deep paths and/or long names, Windows Explorer will sometimes report that the path would be too long. In these cases, there is a limit to the depth and length, which is being exceeded.

However, I can use Beyond Compare to copy/move the files instead and it works OK.

how come?

[Zoë]

Beyond Compare supports paths up to 65,000 characters. Explorer is limited to 260 characters because of backwards compatibility requirements.

[arjaydavis]

Thanks for responding so quick! So NTFS itself supports longer than 260, Explorer is just imposing an 'artificial' limit then?

[Zoë]

Exactly. Most applications have the 260 character limit because that was the limit Windows had for a long time and you need to jump through some hoops to support the longer ones. BC supports them where it can, but certain things like deleting to the recycle bin still have the shorter limit. If you do run into a case where the shorter limit is in effect there should be an obvious error message to that effect.

[arjaydavis]

Thanks!