File Limits for external USB Hard Drive

[Guest]

Hi,
my PC crashes (hangs) when transferring large files (between 1 and 4 gig) to
an external USB hard drive. I've tried reformatting the hard drive to NTFS
format as suggested by the manufacturer but PC still crashing. I've tried
backup softwars, zipped files and strightforward copy and paste.

I have a Windows XP Home Edition and an AMD Athalon dual core 4400+ machine
with 1gig ram
Is there a problem with Windows XP and large files?

 

[Bob I]

The error message in the BSOD will tell you a lot about what the problem is.

 

[Guest]

Bob I, thanks for the reply, however I'm not that computer literate to know
what or where the BSOD is: would you mind giving a little more guidance?
Thanks

 

[Bob Harris]

XP has no problem with large files. FAT32 can handle them up to 4Gig, but
NTFS can do much larger files.

That said, I have noticed that while copying a lot of files, XP seems to get
very sluggish. Try copying the file(s) immediately after rebooting and
without starting any user programs. Also, consider turning off your
antivirus software while copying. Obviously, stay off the web while the
antivirus is off.

 

[Bob I]

BSOD is for Blue Screen Of Death. That is what appears when WIndows XP
crashes. It is the error screen and provides information as to the cause
of the crash. Is XP really crashing? Or is the external harddrive stop
responding. Maybe it's not Windows but the hardware?

 

[Uwe Sieber]

Hi,
my PC crashes (hangs) when transferring large files (between 1 and 4 gig) to
an external USB hard drive. I've tried reformatting the hard drive to NTFS
format as suggested by the manufacturer but PC still crashing. I've tried
backup softwars, zipped files and strightforward copy and paste.

I have a Windows XP Home Edition and an AMD Athalon dual core 4400+ machine
with 1gig ram
Is there a problem with Windows XP and large files?

Probably an incompatibility between your USB drive and
your computer's USB ports. That's not unusual.
Get a PCI USB card with NEC chip at eBay for < $10.
I've seen this helps for several times...


Greetings from Germany

Uwe

 

[Guest]

Hi,

thanks for the advise. I havn't had a BSOD appear, the PC just seems to
freeze and I have to restart. Also on advice from the manufacturere of the
external USB drive I had reformatted to NTFS, but still having a problem.
I've also taken the drive to a friends PC running XP and it appears to work
OK so I believe it must be an issue with the PC or XP setup causing a problem
rather than the drive?