Disk Space Limitation on File Copying

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Andrew - 29 Jul 2006 18:41 GMT

I am trying to copy a 5+GB file from my C: drive to an USB connected external
hard drive. I have 14+GB free space on my C: drive and 160+GB free space on
my external HD. I get prompted that there is not enough disk space and to
free up some disk space to perform my copy. I can copy a 3+GB file from C:
to the external HD without problem, so I believe there is some limitation and
perhaps some configuration setting I can change to allow me to copy a large
file from one physical drive to another physical drive. Does anyone have a
solution to my problem?

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Bruce Chambers - 29 Jul 2006 18:57 GMT

> I am trying to copy a 5+GB file from my C: drive to an USB connected external
> hard drive. I have 14+GB free space on my C: drive and 160+GB free space on
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> file from one physical drive to another physical drive. Does anyone have a
> solution to my problem?

What is the file system in use on the USB external drive, FAT32 or
NTFS? FAT32 cannot handle files larger than 4 Gb.

Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=kb;en-us;Q314463

If this is the case, the solution would be to convert the external
drive's file system to NTFS. Do so only if the drive won't be used to
connect to a Win9x/Me PC.

You can safely convert your current hard drive to NTFS whenever
desired, without having to format the partition and reinstall
everything. As always when performing any serious changes, back up any
important data before proceeding, just in case. A little advance
preparation is also strongly recommended, so you can avoid any
performance hits caused by the default cluster size:

Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm

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Bruce Chambers

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Andrew - 29 Jul 2006 19:09 GMT

Thanks. The external HD is FAT32. I'll try your suggestion.

> > I am trying to copy a 5+GB file from my C: drive to an USB connected external
> > hard drive. I have 14+GB free space on my C: drive and 160+GB free space on
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows
> http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm

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Bruce Chambers - 29 Jul 2006 19:13 GMT

> Thanks. The external HD is FAT32. I'll try your suggestion.

You're welcome.

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