USB Flash drive not accepting file > 4GB

[Guest]

I'm using WindowsXP and recently bought a Patriot 32GB USB flash drive
but when I try to copy a file to it that is greater than 4GB, it says
no room available. The only format option I have is FAT32. Is this
expect with high capacity USB flash drives?

 

[Jason Tsang]

FAT32 has a file size limit of 4 gigs, as such you can't have a file larger
than 4 gigs on a drive formatted as FAT32.

You'd have to format the USB flash drive in NTFS if you want to copy a file
that is larger than 4 gigs to it. Why you can't select the NTFS option, I'm
not sure.

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[xcal]

I have no XP rigth now, but what I remember is that USB flash drives cant be
formatted to NTFS, this option is only available on Vista.

Carlos.

 

[Ian D]

I have no XP rigth now, but what I remember is that USB flash drives cant
be
formatted to NTFS, this option is only available on Vista.

Carlos.

You are correct.

I confirmed this with 2 different 4GB flash drives on XP Pro SP3,
and Vista Ultimate SP1. On XP the only format option was FAT32
in Windows Explorer and Disk Manager. With Vista, the available
options were FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT (FAT64).

 

[Bill Blanton]

You are correct.

I confirmed this with 2 different 4GB flash drives on XP Pro SP3,
and Vista Ultimate SP1. On XP the only format option was FAT32
in Windows Explorer and Disk Manager. With Vista, the available
options were FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT (FAT64).

I wonder if it could be formatted NTFS if you clear the Removable Media
Bit on the flash drive? I've never tried this, but Uwe Sieber has an excellent
page explaining how to do that.

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#partitions

 

[Bill Blanton]

You are correct.

I confirmed this with 2 different 4GB flash drives on XP Pro SP3,
and Vista Ultimate SP1. On XP the only format option was FAT32
in Windows Explorer and Disk Manager. With Vista, the available
options were FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT (FAT64).

I wonder if it could be formatted NTFS if you clear the Removable Media
Bit on the flash drive, and set the drive up with a standard partition structure?
I've never tried this, but Uwe Sieber has an excellent page explaining how
to do that.

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#partitions

 

[Bill Blanton]

I wonder if it could be formatted NTFS if you clear the Removable Media
Bit on the flash drive? I've never tried this, but Uwe Sieber has an excellent
page explaining how to do that.

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#partitions

It'd probably have to be set up with a partition structure also. Even if a
partition of one. Removable media is structured differently.

 

[Uwe Sieber]

I'm using WindowsXP and recently bought a Patriot 32GB USB flash drive
but when I try to copy a file to it that is greater than 4GB, it says
no room available. The only format option I have is FAT32. Is this
expect with high capacity USB flash drives?

Yes, it's a bit strange under XP. For 'removable' drives,
by default only FAT/FAT32 is an option. But for drives
larger than 32GB, NTFS is the only one option. Very strange.

XP allows to format 'removable' drives with NTFS when they
have set the policy 'optimize for speed'.

Double click the 'safe removal' tray icon, set the checkbox
'show device components'. Click on the item with the drives
name like 'Corsair Flash Voyager USB Drive', select Properties.
On the second tab 'Policies' you find the removal policies.
Select 'optimize for speed', OK. Then reattach the drive. Now
NTFS is allowed.

An easier way is to convert the drive to NTFS. Open a command
prompt and enter (assuming U: is your USB drive)

convert U: /fs:ntfs

When it is finished enter

chkdsk U:

Check if the cluster size ("bytes in each allocation unit")
is 4096. If you get a smaller values, take the long way and
format it because small clusers cause slow performance.

Remember that NTFS formated drives will always have a write
cache enabled, so using 'safe removal' or 'eject' is obligatory.


Uwe

 

[Olórin]

Yes, it's a bit strange under XP. For 'removable' drives,
by default only FAT/FAT32 is an option. But for drives
larger than 32GB, NTFS is the only one option. Very strange.

XP allows to format 'removable' drives with NTFS when they
have set the policy 'optimize for speed'.

Double click the 'safe removal' tray icon, set the checkbox
'show device components'. Click on the item with the drives
name like 'Corsair Flash Voyager USB Drive', select Properties.
On the second tab 'Policies' you find the removal policies.
Select 'optimize for speed', OK. Then reattach the drive. Now
NTFS is allowed.

An easier way is to convert the drive to NTFS. Open a command
prompt and enter (assuming U: is your USB drive)

convert U: /fs:ntfs

When it is finished enter

chkdsk U:

Check if the cluster size ("bytes in each allocation unit")
is 4096. If you get a smaller values, take the long way and
format it because small clusers cause slow performance.

Remember that NTFS formated drives will always have a write
cache enabled, so using 'safe removal' or 'eject' is obligatory.


Uwe

Excellent, informative post Uwe; thanks.