November 6, 2003
Copier repairmen.
It seems that there is no easy solution to my problem with OS X’s long file names and our Windows file server. I guess I was hoping it would be something as simple as applying a software update, but no. At any rate, I’d like to thank everyone for their suggestions. Some were enlightening in terms of showing the limitations of Microsoft’s implementation of Appleshare services. Specifically, Henry Stukenborg rolled up the situation as follows:
"You're hitting a limit in the AFP implementation MS uses. Win2K supports an older version of AFP (2.2, I believe) which only allows filenames < 31 characters. Your only solution is to either switch to using Mac OS X Server, or try out Group Logic’s ExtremeZ-IP, which is an AFP server for Windows 2000 that is AFP 3.1-compatible (among other things)."
Local boy Chris Anderson suggested another interesting alternative. It could be a bit persnickety to set up, but it gets around the issue of directly copying files to the server and still provides a tight method of backing up Mac-based data.
"This one involves .dmg (disk image) files. The archive dmg files (I will have to find out how big they can be) can be stored on the Microsoft server and mounted on the [local] desktop. This should provide a HFS+ Journaled file system for you to save files on that preserves all resource forks too. This can be scripted on the Mac side using hdiutil and ditto. What would have to be tested thoroughly would be network disconnects and how they affect mounted dmg files and if they close properly."
Since neither Apple or Microsoft apparently want to own this problem, it’s going to be a purchase vs. home-brew solution. Ah, just like the good old days. Thanks again everyone.
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