Re: Long file names not being accepted, causing problem

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Ken wrote:
Bear with me on this, if you will, as there's a bit of backstory ...

I've Windows XP Home on my Acer Aspire 3620 laptop computer.

A couple of months ago, my JetFlash thumb drive, which plugs into a USB 2.0 port on the side of the computer, stopped being recognised by My Computer - though the Safely Remove Hardware program (with its icon in the Taskbar) continued to recognise it. Result: I could no longer access the thumb drive to store or input information for that computer. (The thumb drive works fine in another laptop computer in the house.)

I rang Microsoft who tried a few things after going into Disk Management, but without success. They couldn't get a re-allocated drive letter for the thumb drive to 'stick' and be recognised by My Computer. They spoke of a path or file having become corrupted. They said that a Folder Reinstall (I think that was the term they used) would be needed, which is little short of a full Windows Reinstall. I baulked at this.

Then, recently, a computers-savvy friend thought that he had found me a work-around. He said: 'Go into Disk Management. See if a letter has been allocated to the thumb drive (say G: or J:). If necessary, allocate one by clicking on "Change Drive Letter and Paths" and "Add". Now, right-click on the shaded or unshaded area on the screen for that drive, then click on Open. The thumb drive will now be accessible and files, etc., can be pasted into it or dragged and dropped into it.'

This does work okay for simple text files. But, unfortunately, long file names are not being accepted, which is a problem when, for example, I want to store my RoboForm Default Profile and its contents, the latter containing many long file names.

Any suggestions for a fix?

Thanks - Ken

Here are a few things that could help:

Click Start, Run, type SFC /SCANNOW, click OK. If any are damaged or missing files, they'll be replaced. You may need to reboot afterwards so damaged files will be replaced.

Troubleshooting for USB drives
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html

This site has specific patches for devices, chipsets, etc.
http://www.usbman.com/WinME%20USB%20Guide.htm

General USB troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310575

--
Joe =o)
.

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