File Size Limit(s)

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TheRealFastlane - 16 Apr 2005 17:44 GMT

I am probably misinformed but from what I have read there is a maximum
filesize limitation of 4GB under all versions of Windows (at this
time) and I am assuming that is represented as 4 billion bytes which
comes to 3.75GB - a few million bytes. Whats the real scoop ?
Thanks

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Mike M - 16 Apr 2005 18:18 GMT

> I am probably misinformed but from what I have read there is a maximum
> filesize limitation of 4GB under all versions of Windows

No. 4GB is the limit for the size of a file where the filing system is
FAT32 as in Win Me. Using the NTFS filing system such as can be used with
Win2K and XP the maximum file size is 16 Terabytes (or roughly 16,000GB if
you prefer). That is 2**44 bytes less 64KB.

> (at this
> time) and I am assuming that is represented as 4 billion bytes which
> comes to 3.75GB - a few million bytes. Whats the real scoop ?

The real scoop is that when "talking computers" which are binary
1Kbyte = 1,024 bytes in decimal = 2**10
1Mbyte = 1,048,576 bytes = 2**20
1Gbyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes = 2**30

Note though that whilst Windows Explorer and your PC work in Gigabytes as
defined above those responsible for selling hard drives like to use
decimal. 1 marketing GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes as this makes the hard
drives they are selling appear larger than they really are. For example a
hard drive marketed as 200GB will most likely be seen by Windows (of any
sort) to in fact be 186GB once it is installed in a PC.

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Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

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