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Over on Superuser, I asked about whether or not it's okay to have filenames and/or folder names that begin with a period (dot) on a Windows NTFS volume.

The immediate response I received was to avoid doing this. Update: The author of that answer graciously changed his answer, and is now indicating that it is no problem. So I think my question is now moot, but I'll leave it up for a few days to see if there are any more updates or commentary here.

What's an effective way to backup Android hidden files and folders (which begin with a period) onto a Windows NTFS volume?

The person answering my question on Superuser recommended renaming the files on Android, if possible. Well, that's certainly possible. It involves these steps:

  1. Finding every file/folder that begins with a period
  2. Making a copy of each file/folder found
  3. Renaming each file/folder copied to a unique name that does not begin with a period
  4. Backing up the copies (most likely via FTP)
  5. Deleting all the copies

Ugh. Is there a better way to accomplish this task? And if not, is there a way to automate all this work?

End Anti-Semitic Hate
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    I am sorry but the answer you got is nonsense. Windows does not care if a file starts with a dot. File extensions are nowadays just a visual gimmick. Just select in Windows Explorer to show all file extensions. Besides that creating a backup to a tar file on device is still a good idea as it improves backup speed. Just search this site for adb exec-out tar. – Robert Feb 15 '21 at 21:05
  • @Robert Thanks Robert. What about transferring Android *folders* that each begin with a period to a Windows NTFS volume? Is that okay? Regarding creating a tar on Android, I considered that, but I have over 20GB to backup with only 800MB free! ;) – End Anti-Semitic Hate Feb 15 '21 at 21:18
  • Agreed with Robert. Windows or NTFS have no problem with an extension-only files or folders except if they conflict with Windows reserved file names. // You can stream 20GB tar archive directly to PC without saving on Android. – Irfan Latif Feb 15 '21 at 21:19
  • @IrfanLatif Thanks Irfan. I hope to hear back from Robert as well regarding the folders (as opposed to files). // I had no idea you could stream tar files from Android without saving them first. Wow... that's spiffy. I'm going to do some searching on that... if you know of a good QA or link for that topic, I'll read it for sure. – End Anti-Semitic Hate Feb 15 '21 at 21:45
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    @RockPaperLz-MaskitorCasket If you want to make a backup use adb. Do not use MTP if you want a reliable copy operation this my recommendation. MTP is buggy and slow. Try adb or for example adb-sync for reliable file copy. – Robert Feb 15 '21 at 21:46
  • https://android.stackexchange.com/q/226573 – alecxs Feb 15 '21 at 21:52
  • @Robert I concur about MTP! Buggy and slow! I typically use FTP, but I'll have to take a second look at adb for backups. I like FTP because my backup program supports it, so I can perform incremental backups based on what I've already backup up, instead of having to backup everything from scratch. Can adb do anything like that? Also, do you concur with Irfan that it's fine to have folders in NTFS (on Windows) that begin with a period? – End Anti-Semitic Hate Feb 15 '21 at 22:13
  • Third-party libre software out there can provide support for creating and mounting a file as an EXT4 drive in Windows. You can create a reasonable size file for EXT4 partition to hold free space and use that to move content between it and the Android. – Firelord Feb 16 '21 at 03:02
  • @Firelord Interesting. If I post a question on Software Recommendations SE for such software, do you think you could provide a recommendation? – End Anti-Semitic Hate Feb 16 '21 at 04:22
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    afaik sdcardfs already take care about fat compatible file names itself, no need for ext4 on windows. you simply can't create incompatible file names within /storage/emulated/0 – alecxs Feb 16 '21 at 09:00

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