8.3 Short File Names not Retained after Tape Restore

After you back up a volume that contains long file names with associated 8.3 short file names, the short file names that were previously associated with the long file names may not be retained after a restore operation. This may happen using the Windows NT backup program called Ntbackup or any third-party OEM backup software.

Using the COPY or XCOPY command will result in the same behavior of not retaining short file names. Short file names are always created dynamically. This may cause certain applications to fail if they are looking for specific 8.3 short file names to be associated with long file name (LFN) files.

NTBackup restores the files in alpha-numeric order and does not restore the short file name. The short file name is therefore recreated and may not be the same as the original.

Adhere to a pure 8.3 short file naming convention if in a mixed environment of clients that are both capable and incapable of using long file names. That way the backup programs will be dealing strictly with 8.3 short file names and restore them correctly.