NTFS might natively support long file names, but FAT16/32 do not. Microsoft created a special layer to sit on top of the filesystem to add in long file name support. It's called VFAT if you care.
So if you're moving files from an older system and you somehow lose the VFAT metadata, the only thing you can do is to try copying the files again or manually renaming them on the XP box.
I'm running winXP on a Compaq laptop. Transferred files from older computer which had long file names which now appear as 8.3. How can a newbie get them converted back to the long names without screwing up the computer innards?
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