Robocopy fails to copy files having .url extension

Brian Hart 21 Reputation points
2022-03-15T21:19:54.807+00:00

I backup my computer to a NAS using a batch file that runs robocopy and logs all activity to .txt files.

I just discovered while reviewing log files that many files, but nowhere near the majority of files, have been failing with this error:

There is not enough space on the disk.
ERROR: RETRY LIMIT EXCEEDED.

When I looked more deeply, I found that every file that failed this way was a file having the extension ".url". There is nothing else I can see that the failed files have in common: some are short paths, some are long paths. Some have only one work and no spaces (e.g. "Login.url"); others have multiple words with one or more spaces between the words (e.g. "Support Forums - Dell Community.url").

Is there something inherent in robocopy preventing copying of .url files, or is it possible the NAS is denying the copy due to the .url suffix? Is there some way to get a more exact error message from robocopy? I know there is sufficient space, since it copies all the other (and much larger) files than the .url files.

The NAS is a WesternDigital MyCloud device, so probably Linux OS.

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | User experience | Other
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  1. MotoX80 37,156 Reputation points
    2022-03-16T02:19:24.99+00:00

    Robocopy shouldn't care if the files are .url or .xyz or .foo. Try copying one folder that contains a .url file. Copy it from it's source to C:\Temp to see if something on the server is blocking the copy. Thay should tell you if the issue is on the source machine,

    Then try copying that one folder to the NAS. Create a dummy .url file with random text in it to see if that makes a difference,

    Do you have another Windows machine where you try to copy the files to?


  2. Pavel A 431 Reputation points
    2022-04-07T00:32:05.943+00:00

    Do the "bad" files have multiple streams? Use the sysinternals streams utility to inspect.


  3. 3086Here 1 Reputation point
    2022-04-07T13:16:00.28+00:00

    streams v1.60 - Reveal NTFS alternate streams.
    Copyright (C) 2005-2016 Mark Russinovich
    Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

    No files with streams found.

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  4. 3086Here 1 Reputation point
    2022-04-07T13:18:24.68+00:00

    here is a content sample of a URL that fails:

    [DEFAULT]
    BASEURL=http://www.wheelinghistoricalsociety.com/
    [{000214A0-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
    Prop3=19,2
    [InternetShortcut]
    URL=http://www.wheelinghistoricalsociety.com/
    IDList=
    IconFile=http://www.wheelinghistoricalsociety.com/favicon.ico
    IconIndex=1
    [Search]
    VisitCount=03
    SelectionCount=03

    0 comments No comments

  5. 3086Here 1 Reputation point
    2022-04-07T13:27:44.473+00:00

    bad files exist on NTFS partition. Unable to copy-xcopy-robocopy them to a FAT32 partition. I think it is filesystem related, as my NAS is linux as well. If I zip the .url files, I can move them to the nas. If I bring them back and unzip them, then moving the files to FAT or NAS works fine. Before and after files compare (FC) identically.

    What is so special about .URL files and NTFS? Is there an easy way to undo whatever is stopping NTFS from copying to other file formats?


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