Why can't I copy a 7 GB file to a 120 GB WD External USB Drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter andreas
  • Start date Start date
A

andreas

A Western Digital 250 GB USB External Drive is connected to a Windows
XP SP2 computer. There is 227 GB of unused space on the drive, yet
when I try to copy and paste a 37 GB Vware images files to the drive,
I get an error message Titled "Error Copying File or Folder" that says
"Cannot copy <filename>: There is not enough free disk space." Why
can't I copy this file to the Drive?

Thanks in advance!

andreas
 
andreas said:
A Western Digital 250 GB USB External Drive is connected to a Windows
XP SP2 computer. There is 227 GB of unused space on the drive, yet
when I try to copy and paste a 37 GB Vware images files to the drive,
I get an error message Titled "Error Copying File or Folder" that says
"Cannot copy <filename>: There is not enough free disk space." Why
can't I copy this file to the Drive?

Thanks in advance!

andreas
Click to expand...

Sounds like the external drive is formatted as FAT32. For files that
large, 7 GB, it should be formatted as NTSF. I think the maximum
file size for FAT32 is 4 GB.
 
Ian D said:
Sounds like the external drive is formatted as FAT32. For files that
large, 7 GB, it should be formatted as NTSF. I think the maximum
file size for FAT32 is 4 GB.
Click to expand...


Yep!
 
Ian D said:
Sounds like the external drive is formatted as FAT32. For files that
large, 7 GB, it should be formatted as NTSF. I think the maximum
file size for FAT32 is 4 GB.
Click to expand...
Oops! That should be NTFS.
 
Thanks Ian!

Yes, external drive is formatted as FAT32 and I don't know why! I was
with the idea that FAT32 file system was obsolete.
I will use the windows command convert.exe (http://
technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456984.aspx) to convert it to
NTFS.
This method keeps your files intact, unlike formatting a partition.
 
Thanks Ian!

Yes, external drive is formatted as FAT32 and I don't know why! I was
with the idea that FAT32 file system was obsolete.
I will use the windows command convert.exe (http://
technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456984.aspx) to convert it to
NTFS.
This method keeps your files intact, unlike formatting a partition.
 
Yes, external drive is formatted as FAT32 and I don't know why! I was
with the idea that FAT32 file system was obsolete.
Click to expand...

FAT32 also works with Macintosh, so a lot of manufacturers ship flash drives
with it. I don't know if the latest OSX can read NTFS, but until recently
they couldn't.

-John O
 
JohnO said:
FAT32 also works with Macintosh, so a lot of manufacturers ship flash drives with it. I don't know
if the latest OSX can read NTFS, but until recently they couldn't.

-John O
Click to expand...
You can also run into file permission issues with NTFS that don't exist in FAT32, thats why many
external drives are preformatted FAT32.
 
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