Transfering Files to a external Harddrive

[KYFHO]

I've run into an intersting problem.
I've got a Western Digital 120GB passport external harddrive. I currently
has 30gb of open space and the the Recyle Bin is empty. I'm trying to
transfer some large files (2 - 3 gb) from my Dell laptop (running xp pro -
current updates) to the Passport.

The problem I have run into is when I try and transfer a file that is 3.4gb
- windows tells me there is no room on the Passport external drive. Just
to chekc I plugged the Passport into another computer and there really is
30gb of space available.

Any ideas of suggestions

TIA

 

[Doug Knox - [MS-MVP]]

Ensure the drive is formatted NTFS. Otherwise, you'll run into file size
limits.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I've run into an intersting problem.
I've got a Western Digital 120GB passport external harddrive. I currently
has 30gb of open space and the the Recyle Bin is empty. I'm trying to
transfer some large files (2 - 3 gb) from my Dell laptop (running xp pro -
current updates) to the Passport.

The problem I have run into is when I try and transfer a file that is 3.4gb
- windows tells me there is no room on the Passport external drive. Just
to chekc I plugged the Passport into another computer and there really is
30gb of space available.

Almost certainly, your external drive is formatted as FAT32, and you
are running into the FAT32 limit of 4GB for a single file. The message
you have gotten is the unfortunately misleading message that you get
when this happens.

Convert (or reformat) the drive to NTFS, and the problem will go away.

 

[KYFHO]

Doug thanks for the reply
I know the XP has the capablity to convert from Fat32 to NTFS - how safe is
that ?

 

[Doug Knox - [MS-MVP]]

So far, I've had no issues with it. However, with any operation of this
type, backup anything you can't afford to lose. Also see this article by
our departed colleague, Alex Nichol.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Xandros]

I haven't run into any problems converting a drive from FAT32 to NTFS. As
Doug says you should have a backup of you important data before you make
changes but it should go smoothly enough.

 

[KYFHO]

Thanks for the help, greatly appreciated