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. howue 0 Reputation points
    2024-03-18T10:08:18.79+00:00

    I have the same problem with copying *.url-Files to my NAS EX4100 since a long time.

    I use robocopy , but the problem exist with the windows-filemanager too.

    What I found out: settings in my NAS under network to only SMB 3....helps some time, but after a week the problem returns. disable/activate my NIC-Adapter helps some time , but the the problem returns. my workarrounds are: 1) ziping the affected files and extracting it on the NAS. 2) converting the affected file with "textKonverter BASIC" from Stefan Trost Media using the format-Option.

    Remark: the contents of the files before and after are still the same, but it works!

    When I use my other Windows11 computer the affected url-Files can be copied to my NAS without any problem!

    I cannot understand the whole behaviour and why are only url-Files affected?

    Can please somebody help me?


  2. Hamza Aytaç DOĞANAY 0 Reputation points
    2025-12-12T13:09:24.55+00:00

    Possible Situation:

    FAT32 filesystem has limits for long file names. The area allocated to store file names are limited. If file names are short, you can store 65534 files in a directory. If file names are getting longer, it reduces the number of files that can be stored in a directory. It can be reduced down to 3120 files depending on file name length.

    SOLUTION: Reduce file names, or continue to copy other files to a new folder.

    Possible Indicators: RoboCopy, ERROR 82 (0x00000052), Error 0x80070052

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