SOLVED: Copying files to NTFS with colons in filename

[kevtardis]

Greetings!

I have read that one can't copy folders/files from Linux to an NTFS-formatted partition if there are colons in the filename. HOWEVER, I have a whole bunch of files that I created in MX-Linux which I copied to an external NTFS-formatted hard drive using PCManFM. Here's a sample of one folder contained on /dev/sdb1:

Screenshot.png

Here's some output from fdisk showing the partitions and their formatting. My NTFS-formatted partitions that I back up my stuff to are /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdc1.

Screenshot2.png

(sorry for the screenshot, but Quick System Info didn't show how the external devices were formatted.

Note that I successfully copied such files on old versions of MX-Linux from about MX-15 to MX-21.3. When I recently installed the newest version, I started getting 'challenged' by PCManFM to rename the file in such a way that no colons would exist in the filename.

I installed MX-21.3 in a VirtualBox and tried to copy the files from there with no luck. I also tried different file managers as well as Grsync and the CLI.

Colons are pretty important for classical music, as well as Irish, British and Scottish music. If there was a way to be able to continue copying the files as originally named, I would sure love to be able to do that. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[Charlie Brown]

If it's just to backup: As you already know: You can first archive (say 7z)

But if you'll access (play) them on Windows, this time (even if you manage to do that) Windows will object that..

(Just loudly thinking) .. then .. why not ext4 ?

[Charlie Brown]

... Yes, on MX19 it lets me either on file manager and on terminal, cp command, but not on MX23.

With 6.0 or 6.1 there were important updates regarding ntfs-3g , so, maybe you install an older kernel (say antiX 5.10 or 4.19) then boot with and try ...


Edit: On MX21 also it doesn't let me, neither the file manager nor the terminal and the kernel is even antiX 4.9. So, that's related to something else.

[kevtardis]

I restored an MX-18.3 virtualbox machine I had, and tried to manage the copying of files through it. Alas no success. Also tried copying them in a zip file (that worked), but (as you said) when I tried to extract them, it wanted me to rename all the files.

I guess I could change the partitions to EXT4, based on what I have on those two USB drives. I envisioned a day when I would make these partitions available to other people in the house who use Windows, but I don't think that's going to happen now.
Other than be time consuming to backup, reformat and restore, that's probably the way to go unless someone else comes up with something.

Thanks Charlie Brown. Will not mark this as solved for a few days just to see if someone else chimes in.

[CharlesV]

I dont think any windows users will be able to use those files if a colon is in the name. The colon is a very special character and is what tells windows there is a data stream. And as I recall, most windows applications will attempt to read it far different from a file .

Windows forbidden characters for files and folder names:

Code: Select all

  < (less than)
  > (greater than)
  : (colon - sometimes works, but is actually NTFS Alternate Data Streams)
  " (double quote)
  / (forward slash)
  \ (backslash)
  | (vertical bar or pipe)
  ? (question mark)
  * (asterisk)
  

[kevtardis]

You are right, of course. At the time I came up with that master plan, I doubt I had any recordings with colons in them (the classical music stuff is pretty recent), so the plan could have worked for windows users at that time.

So I'll be reformatting to EXT4, I guess. Funny that I am able to copy files with colons in the file name from the NTFS partition back to Linux and I have no problem with that.

Thanks all. Will mark this as solved.

[Charlie Brown]

... Or if you like only, first copy them all to another directory and simply replace the : with something else (I don't know what character would be the closest by its meaning, maybe just a hyphen :D ) , Thunar will do the bulk renaming so easily (that's one of the features I like most about it).. Then copy/move all the new ones to ntfs.

Why? Just to keep the originals the way you like exactly ... Then everyone will also be able to play them from Windows, nothing to lose other than a :

:D

(Cause the main issue is obvious: even if you find a way, whatever way, Windows won't let you open/run such files)


Edit: Corrected a typo: noticed that I wrote bash instead of bulk :)

[Charlie Brown]

... In the meantime, you also have "Il Barbiere Di Siviglia" and "Una Voce Poco Fa" , don't you ?

My favorite two


Edit: Corrected the "Una" :)

[operadude]

... Or if you like only, first copy them all to another directory and simply replace the : with something else (I don't know what character would be the closest by its meaning, maybe just a hyphen :D ) , Thunar will do the bash renaming so easily (that's one of the features I like most about it).. Then copy/move all the new ones to ntfs.

Why? Just to keep the originals the way you like exactly ... Then everyone will also be able to play them from Windows, nothing to lose other than a :

:D

(Cause the main issue is obvious: even if you find a way, whatever way, Windows won't let you open/run such files)

I use a hyphen ("-") [ or is that a dash?] in place of the colon.

BTW, I had some difficulty figuring-out why my last run of LuckyBackup produced some errors; I fianlly realized that the errors were due to a colon in one of the filenames that was on my external hard drive (4TB "Seagate Expansion Drive", formatted as/with NTFS). The filenames had colons in them, but LuckyBackup had trouble creating some temp file or directory (either on the source drive or the target/destination drive -- I can't remember which) with the colons in the filenames.

Anyway, I just replaced the colon with a dash.

I also use other drives for data backup that are formatted as ext4.

I have also wondered if it is wise to format large data drives (for backup) as ext4, since I am using Windows only for Very Rarely used programs that run only on Windows, but that's another topic.

Lastly, Re:

... In the meantime, you also have "Il Barbiere Di Siviglia" and "Une Voce Poco Fa" , don't you ?

My favorite two

+1