Limitations of the file path length in Veritas System Recovery

Article: 100024112
Last Published: 2015-04-29
Ratings: 0 0
Product(s): System Recovery

Problem

Limitations of the file path length in Veritas System Recovery (VSR)

Cause

The maximum file path length depends on Windows operating system limitations.  Windows cannot create paths containing more than 256 characters through Windows Explorer and the standard Microsoft Windows API, although the NTFS file system itself has a higher limit of 32,767 characters.  The 256 character limit does not include "<drive letter>:\", but does include all other characters in the path including all folder names, backslashes, and the full file name.

More information about the file path length limits may be found in the following Microsoft article:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/fileio/naming-a-file

Solution

The following maximum path limits apply to VSR backups, and validations are  present in the VSR user interface:

File and Folder backup: 

The maximum path length for the File and Folder backup destination is limited to 210 characters.  Once backup destination path is provided, File and Folder backup creates a subdirectory structure within the specified path which adds another 46 characters to reach the total Windows API limitation of 256 characters.

Recovery Point (full volume) backup:

The maximum path length of each entire recovery point file name is 256 characters.  This includes the path to the backup destination (including creating a unique subfolder if that option is selected) plus the file name of the recovery point.

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