Unable to copy a 5 gig file

[vvenk]

Hello:

I have a 5 gig file that I am trying to copy an external USB hard disk but I
get an error message, "File too large to copy". It says that the file is too
large for the destination file system, even though I have 210 gig space on it.

Any ideas?

Venki

 

[Nonny]

I have a 5 gig file that I am trying to copy an external USB hard disk but I
get an error message, "File too large to copy". It says that the file is too
large for the destination file system, even though I have 210 gig space on it.

The drive is no doubt formatted FAT. Change it to NTFS.

 

[LVTravel]

Your USB drive is probably formatted as a FAT 32 disk (which has a 4 GB file
size limit) instead of NTFS (which has no "real" limit on file size.) To
determine if this is the issue double click on My computer, right click on
the USB drive icon and then click properties. If it says FAT 32 in File
system you need to change to NTFS to be able to copy this file.

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314097 and/or
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881 for Microsoft's information to
convert the drive to NTFS.

And there is a little more information here about a known issue with some
FAT 32 drives: http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/fatntfs.php

 

[vvenk]

Yes, you were right! Thanks.

Venki

Your USB drive is probably formatted as a FAT 32 disk (which has a 4 GB file
size limit) instead of NTFS (which has no "real" limit on file size.) To
determine if this is the issue double click on My computer, right click on
the USB drive icon and then click properties. If it says FAT 32 in File
system you need to change to NTFS to be able to copy this file.

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314097 and/or
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881 for Microsoft's information to
convert the drive to NTFS.

And there is a little more information here about a known issue with some
FAT 32 drives: http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/fatntfs.php