XCopy file creation error

Question

I use xcopy to run a weekly backup of my files to a backup HDD. On the recent backup, it failed on a file with the following error message:

File creation error - The directory or file cannot be created.

Does anyone know what is the cause of this? How to fix it?

The filename which it fails on is:

2009_08_20090811-183728-dmyan@cs_hku_hk-Re_[cgal-discuss]_Using_cgal_in_C-1.eml

The source [path + filename] is 117 characters long. The destination [path + filename] is 81 characters long.

The source disk is formatted to NTFS and the destination disk is FAT32.

Answer 1

Apparently you aren't allowed square brackets in file names, so I don't know how they got there. You could try using fsutil to sort it out http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/fsutil%5Fbehavior.mspx?mfr=true

Answer 2

Also, for a more robust copier than xcopy, you might want to consider changing to RoboCopy, part of the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools. It is a Robust Copy that can continue after issues like that and will provide you a neat report. It has a plethora of options that are worth putting some time into reading to ensure you get the most from it and your backups become something you don't have to worry about.