Can't move/copy a file to external hard drive

[Guest]

I am trying to move a large file (>17GB) to an external hard drive attached
to my computer. The external hard drive is a Seagate 150GB formatted to
FAT32. The problem is I can't move (or copy) the file from where it resides
to my external hard drive. I get an error msg. which states "there is not
enough free disk space" But when I look at the properties of the hard drive,
there is >120GB free space. Any ideas why I can't move/copy this file from
one place to another? It is not copy protected.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

FAT32 has a 4GB maximum file size transfer limitation.
You'll need to reformat your external drive to NTFS in order
to solve the problem.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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:

| I am trying to move a large file (>17GB) to an external hard drive attached
| to my computer. The external hard drive is a Seagate 150GB formatted to
| FAT32. The problem is I can't move (or copy) the file from where it resides
| to my external hard drive. I get an error msg. which states "there is not
| enough free disk space" But when I look at the properties of the hard drive,
| there is >120GB free space. Any ideas why I can't move/copy this file from
| one place to another? It is not copy protected.
| --
| Rich

 

[CoreBurn]

I've ran into this problem randomly with my USB HD also, yet it is formatted
with NTFS. The last time it did it, I had the drive shared on my second
computer and mapped as a drive on the first computer.. It was on the
computer with the drive mapped that I got the error. I'm not sure why this
problem strangely comes and goes... oh and just yesterday I had another
strange problem... Usually I copy files to and from the drive through my
network with no problems, then yesterday it suddenly says something about
the target drive not supporting long filenames while copying some files...
Yet today I boot up and everything's fine...

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the help. I have about 25 GB of 'stuff' on my external Hard
Drive. Is there a way to reformat the drive without losing my information?
Or, do I have to partition the external hard drive and then reformat the new
partition? If I partition the hard drive, can this be done without losing
any information which is on the drive?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

[Courtesy of Alex Nichol, MS-MVP

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Thanks for the help. I have about 25 GB of 'stuff' on my external Hard
| Drive. Is there a way to reformat the drive without losing my information?
| Or, do I have to partition the external hard drive and then reformat the new
| partition? If I partition the hard drive, can this be done without losing
| any information which is on the drive?