file name maximum length?

What=92s the maximum numbers of characters I can use for files and
folders in OS 10.3? I seem to be able to make a lot of them but when I
try to copy them to a hard drive that was formatted with an older FWB
that was running system running 8.1 it just say something like an
error occurred name too long and will not copy the file. I reduce the
number of characters down and then I can get it to copy.
Is it the hard drive=92s driver or is it an OS thing. Why did the old
systems beep when you reached the limit when creating file names but
OS 10 does not until you try to save the file? Word for X says you are
limited to 31 characters? I know it is convenient to have longer names
but I need to transfer stuff to older macs running pre OS 9. Is there
a way to get OS 10.3 to not let me go over the limit each time I make
a file or folder name? With Textedit it seems like I can add as many
characters as I want.
If I were to use Os 10.3 Disk Utility on this SCSI hard drive to
reformat it. Then I move from computer to computer would I be able to
use longer names at least showing in OS 10.3? And would the older Macs
running the older OS be able to see the files with what I guess would
be truncated names as happens on PC sometimes when the name is
shortened with a tilde at the end?