Special characters causing backup problems

[dtarin]

I have an NTFS drive connected to my ReadyNas via USB for backup.  The backups seem to complete but they're filled with messages like this (I masked out the path / filename). 

Cannot create file '/media/DocumentsBackup/backup/Our Documents/xxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxx :2f xxx x  xxxx.pdf' (error: No such file or directory)!

I did an chkdsk on the drive from a windows machine and it checks out with no errors.  

So are these errors an issue with special characters in the file or file name length or something else?

[StephenB]

How long is the path in the file name?

You might try renaming one of the files that is giving the error, and then running the backup job.  Then check to see that the file with the original name is being written.

[dtarin]

oops...accidentally formatted the backup drive using ext4  (Was messing around and clicked yes on the 'are you sure' message.  Okay then.)  No big deal since it's just a backup drive but was still curious about solving the issue with the current drive. 

We'll see if the formatting to ext4 'fixes' the problem. 

[dtarin]

Well so far so good.. some of the problem folders appear to have been backed up no issue.  I'm going to assume it was just an NTFS limitation and deal with figuring out how to read EXT4 drives on macs and pcs.

[StephenB]

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@dtarin wrote:

deal with figuring out how to read EXT4 drives on macs and pcs.

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Paragon offers a package for Mac (~40 USD with a volume discount)

• https://www.paragon-software.com/us/home/extfs-mac/

They list a similar package for Windows, but don't provide pricing (instead it says "contact us").

A Linux VM or a dual-boot setup would also work. I don't know if Microsoft's WSL software (free) supports ext or not, but worth a try.

There are some open-source freeware packages for Windows (and perhaps one for Mac) that you could also try.

[saudade]

Looks like you got it figured out.  For others:

Yes there are limitations on characters you can use in naming.

From:  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/naming-a-file

Use any character in the current code page for a name, including Unicode characters and characters in the extended character set (128–255), except for the following:

The following reserved characters:

< (less than)
> (greater than)
: (colon)
" (double quote)
/ (forward slash)
\ (backslash)
| (vertical bar or pipe)
? (question mark)
* (asterisk)

[schumaku]

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@saudade wrote:

Looks like you got it figured out. 

If the file name is so illegal, think about on how has this "xxxxxxxxxxx :2f xxx x  xxxx.pdf" ever appeared on what looks like a normal Windows file path. Troubles are often coming from file names used by temporary files, interpreted as UTF8 file names for whatever reason. For example the URL encoded %2f representing a / in this file name path.