Invalid filename error when copying from one ntfs to another

[n0madsoul]

Hello there,

I am trying to backup some data to a freshly bought 1 TB USB Drive in Linux Mint. However, when I copy+paste it starts transferring data really quick at first, then slows down and ends with an error concerning directories that have dots in their names („Invalid filename“ or „Invalid argument“ when using cp in the command line). The strange thing is that this shouldn't be a problem, as the data already rests on an internal hard drive, which is also ntfs-formatted.

The only threads concerning this problem are about 10 years old and all consider just renaming the directories using some command line tools. That's fine for me if nothing else works, but I think I might be missing something here. Can anyone help? I am happy to provide any information necessary.

Thanks a lot.

Internal harddrive is a Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM010-2EP102
External harddrive is a Seagate Expansion Portable 1 TB
System is Linux Mint 20.1

[karlchen]

Hello, n0madsoul.

Please share the complete unmodified commandline, which you execute, and the complete unshortened screen output, which the command displays, with us.
We need both in order to have an idea what the issue may be.

Best regards,
Karl

[n0madsoul]

Hello there and thanks for the quick reply. I can reproduce the error with this

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cp -R /mnt/580D692D5C65BD65/Dokumente/Bewerbungen/Zertifikate\,\ Zeugnisse\ etc./ /media/user/Seagate\ Backup/Dokumente

Outpout reads as follows

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cp: das Verzeichnis '/media/user/Seagate Backup/Dokumente/Zertifikate, Zeugnisse etc.' kann nicht angelegt werden: Das Argument ist ungültig

In English it would be this I guess

Code: Select all

cp: cannot create regular file 'xx': Invalid argument

[Flemur]

Hello there and thanks for the quick reply. I can reproduce the error with this

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cp -R /mnt/580D692D5C65BD65/Dokumente/Bewerbungen/Zertifikate\,\ Zeugnisse\ etc./ /media/user/Seagate\ Backup/Dokumente

Outpout reads as follows

Code: Select all

cp: das Verzeichnis '/media/user/Seagate Backup/Dokumente/Zertifikate, Zeugnisse etc.' kann nicht angelegt werden: Das Argument ist ungültig

In English it would be this I guess

Code: Select all

cp: cannot create regular file 'xx': Invalid argument

Yuo have a period at the end of the name (Zertifikate, Zeugnisse etc.) :

In addition to these characters, the following conventions are also illegal:
Placing a space at the end of the name
Placing a period at the end of the name

Edit: from here: https://kb.acronis.com/content/39790

The windows_names restriction is part of the partition mount parameters in linux, so the name could be OK on one partition but not another, depending how they're mounted.

Edit: with windows_names set:

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/mnt/BU_NTFS/DATA # ls > a
/mnt/BU_NTFS/DATA # ls > a.a
/mnt/BU_NTFS/DATA # ls > a.
zsh: invalid argument: a.

[freddyy]

Thanks for the info.

and now ?

Such an operating system is not usable.

Will the problem be solved in the foreseeable future ?

I am a layman. Is it not possible to use the tool
from OpenSuse Leap 15.3 ?


Greetings

freddyy

[mikeflan]

You have a folder that has a period on the end of it. Maybe more than one. We are thinking you should remove that period. Is that possible / practical / acceptable to you?

If you open a terminal in the root of the NTFS drive and type
find * -type d -iname '*.'
That might list all the directories with a period at the end of them.
Can you rename them?

Is it not possible to use the tool from OpenSuse Leap 15.3?

Maybe. Do you know what the tool is called? Perhaps we can find another tool that does the same thing.

If you don't know how to open a terminal in the root of the NTFS drive, open a terminal and type this:

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df -Th

Then report the results here.

[karlchen]

Hello, freddyy.

Such an operating system is not usable.

Which operating system do you consider unusable? Linux Mint? Or Windows? Or MacOS?
Mac OS permits having filenames and foldernames having a dot as the last character.
Windows does not permit so by default. Reason: The last dot in a filename is always considered the separator between filename and filename extension. No extension, no dot.
As you are copying from one NTFS filesystem to another NTFS filesystem, NTFS filesystem naming conventions apply. NTFS is a Windows filesystem type.
Linux Mint merely sticks to the NTFS filesystem rules in this case.

So which operating system is unusable? - I guess you will have to accept that different operating systems have got slightly different rules. And you will have to accept these rules.

Regards.
Karl