Not sure why files are renamed by computer

[clear glass]

I'm using a PC running Windows XP home service pack 3.

I have a 119 meg. folder with 3,500 Lotus Word Pro text files in it.

I recently discovered the computer renamed many of the files in the directory of the folder in a way unfamiliar to me.

The new names are an abbreviation of the original file name followed by a tilde and then a number. (The tilde is the line above a letter in a Spanish word to indicate a y sound for English speakers, as in cañon>) The number refers to the version of the file. For instance, 1A in the original title became 1, 1B became 2.

Examples: "About Ninetieth Street 1A 5-2-16" became "ABOUTN tilde 1".

"A Cure For Insomnia 5-9-13 1B" became "ACUREF tilde 2".

These files open normally.

My theory: When the space occupied by the titles of the files in the folder directory exceeded the space for the directory, itles were automatically abbreviated.

Do you think that's right?

I thought moving a file to a place where there isn't any abbreviation of file titles might restore the original name of the file, but that doesn't work.

Is there any way of automatically restoring the original names to the files, short of putting them into smaller folders (where, if my theory is right, the files won't be renamed) and renaming them individually)?

If my theory is right, is there any way to increase the storage space for the directory of a folder so that the abbreviation doesn't take place?

 

[Archer66]

Filenames are in old 8.3 format.

Did you open the files in some old program that does not understand long file names ?

 

[edhannon]

Been so long since I used XP that I do not kn ow the full reason for the rename.

However, the 8 character names are the old MS Dos version of a filename.

I think XP still retained the old dos directory with an extension for full file names.

The file name in the Dos directory only had room for 8 characters.

 

[Rick314]

In my past experience with files on XP and older OS computers it may have to do with the length of the file name being over 8 characters long. I can't remember if the file name is truncated or just shown truncated. If you do some searching on truncated file names you might find a better explanation than I can provide.

 

[StIves]

Wow, you've been hit by a system limitation that went obsolete decades ago. The earlier explanation of bit of software you used being subject to this limitation is probably spoton.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.3_filename

If it were me, I'd just live with it because I'm not a filesystem expert. Maybe, just maybe, this info is still stored somewhere, but I personally don't have the skills required to hack around disk metadata with any degree of confidence.

Loading…

msdn.microsoft.com

 

[Patco]

I'm using a PC running Windows XP home service pack 3.

I have a 119 meg. folder with 3,500 Lotus Word Pro text files in it.

I recently discovered the computer renamed many of the files in the directory of the folder in a way unfamiliar to me.

The new names are an abbreviation of the original file name followed by a tilde and then a number. (The tilde is the line above a letter in a Spanish word to indicate a y sound for English speakers, as in cañon>) The number refers to the version of the file. For instance, 1A in the original title became 1, 1B became 2.

Examples: "About Ninetieth Street 1A 5-2-16" became "ABOUTN tilde 1".

"A Cure For Insomnia 5-9-13 1B" became "ACUREF tilde 2".

These files open normally.

My theory: When the space occupied by the titles of the files in the folder directory exceeded the space for the directory, itles were automatically abbreviated.

Do you think that's right?

I thought moving a file to a place where there isn't any abbreviation of file titles might restore the original name of the file, but that doesn't work.

Is there any way of automatically restoring the original names to the files, short of putting them into smaller folders (where, if my theory is right, the files won't be renamed) and renaming them individually)?

If my theory is right, is there any way to increase the storage space for the directory of a folder so that the abbreviation doesn't take place?

It's not clear if it's the built-in Windows Explorer or your old Lotus program listing files in the SFN (Short File Name) 8.3 convention

Windows stores both the SFN and the LFN (Long File Name), which you can see by navigating to a folder in a Command Prompt, and issuing a "dir /x" command, as in this example:



If you see your LFNs in your folder, they are still stored in the file system.

Back in "the old days" it was quite a challenge giving files meaningful names, while being limited to an 8 character description and 3 character extension. ;-)

EDIT: Just saw the links provided by StIves that give good detail re. the naming conventions.

--
Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels

 

[IanYorke]

I'm using a PC running Windows XP home service pack 3.

I have a 119 meg. folder with 3,500 Lotus Word Pro text files in it.

Wow, Lotus Word Pro. You don't see that mentioned much these days. I also have old Word Pro files and interestingly Lotus runs in Win 10!!

Ian

 

[clear glass]

This is very helpful but I don't quite understand what in the example you give is relevant only to your files or generally relevant. Could you clarify?

I tried to send you an email several times but it was rejected because of error.

 

[locksley]

I run into this problem using (yes, I still use it, I'm not ashamed!) Lotus 123 5.0.

Windows XP (or Lotus) inserts a tilde when the file name is longer than 8 characters.

I never had any problem opening any of the shortened name files, so I didn't bother to rename any of them or try putting them in a different directory. Have about a thousand Lotus 123 files. If I get time, I'll play around with different file names and see what happens.

 

[Patco]

This is very helpful but I don't quite understand what in the example you give is relevant only to your files or generally relevant. Could you clarify?

I tried to send you an email several times but it was rejected because of error.

My example was meant to show that short file names with tildes are still produced along with long file names we use with most (all?) modern programs and operating systems.

The directory screen print I included shows files from a program on my computer, but would show the same short and long file names if if installed on any other computer.

 

[Robert Zanatta]

What file system? Because some older FAT filesystems had a limitation of root directory entries, but not subdirectories.