Is there a limit to file size that can be copied

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Using Win XP Home, 2.6 ghz, 2 gb ram. I just bought a 500 gb WD Ebook
external hd, and am trying to copy all "my documents" from an older drive to
the 500 bg drive as a backup. But there is one video file that will not
copy... it's just over 5 bg. A box poped up and says there is not enough
space on my new drive.. which at that time had pretty much nothing on it. I
have since copied over 80 gb with no problems, but the one file over 5 gb
will not copy. Is there a file size limit for copying or do I have a
different kind of problem?
 
Did you format the new drive to NTFS? By default, they are FAT32, and it's
a 4GB file limit until you reformat.


| Using Win XP Home, 2.6 ghz, 2 gb ram. I just bought a 500 gb WD Ebook
| external hd, and am trying to copy all "my documents" from an older drive
to
| the 500 bg drive as a backup. But there is one video file that will not
| copy... it's just over 5 bg. A box poped up and says there is not enough
| space on my new drive.. which at that time had pretty much nothing on it.
I
| have since copied over 80 gb with no problems, but the one file over 5 gb
| will not copy. Is there a file size limit for copying or do I have a
| different kind of problem?
 
loren said:
Using Win XP Home, 2.6 ghz, 2 gb ram. I just bought a 500 gb WD
Ebook external hd, and am trying to copy all "my documents" from an
older drive to the 500 bg drive as a backup. But there is one
video file that will not copy... it's just over 5 bg. A box poped
up and says there is not enough space on my new drive.. which at
that time had pretty much nothing on it. I have since copied over
80 gb with no problems, but the one file over 5 gb will not copy.
Is there a file size limit for copying or do I have a different
kind of problem?
Click to expand...

FAT32 formatted drive - 4GB size limit on FAT32.
NTFS does not have this limit.
You would need to format/convert the drive to NTFS to take advantage of
this.
 
Thanks Tom. Of course by now I've transferred 80 gb before I saw your reply.
Now I have to decide wether or not it's worth it to reformat, or just not
back up that file. I may buy another 500 gb Ebook and reformat that one,
then try to back on onto that one... and if successful reformat the first one
for use later on.
 
loren: You *should* be able to format the drive without losing the data,
but you never know.

Tom

| Thanks Tom. Of course by now I've transferred 80 gb before I saw your
reply.
| Now I have to decide wether or not it's worth it to reformat, or just not
| back up that file. I may buy another 500 gb Ebook and reformat that one,
| then try to back on onto that one... and if successful reformat the first
one
| for use later on.
|
|
|
| "Tom Willett" wrote:
|
| > Did you format the new drive to NTFS? By default, they are FAT32, and
it's
| > a 4GB file limit until you reformat.
| >
| >
| > | > | Using Win XP Home, 2.6 ghz, 2 gb ram. I just bought a 500 gb WD Ebook
| > | external hd, and am trying to copy all "my documents" from an older
drive
| > to
| > | the 500 bg drive as a backup. But there is one video file that will
not
| > | copy... it's just over 5 bg. A box poped up and says there is not
enough
| > | space on my new drive.. which at that time had pretty much nothing on
it.
| > I
| > | have since copied over 80 gb with no problems, but the one file over 5
gb
| > | will not copy. Is there a file size limit for copying or do I have a
| > | different kind of problem?
| >
| >
| >
 
Thanks to all of you who replied.
Of course you were correct. I decided to reformat and lost my backup, but
was pleased with the results because my re-backup was flawless and now I'm
confident that all files are there.

One more question though... I notice that when I open explorer now that the
new drive is listed in a blue font and all the directories and files are in
blue font. What does that mean?
 
loren said:
Thanks to all of you who replied.
Of course you were correct. I decided to reformat and lost my
backup, but was pleased with the results because my re-backup was
flawless and now I'm confident that all files are there.

One more question though... I notice that when I open explorer now
that the new drive is listed in a blue font and all the directories
and files are in blue font. What does that mean?
Click to expand...

Blue text in Explorer = Compressed Files.
 
That means the files and folders were compressed with XP's built-in file
compression utility.
 
One more question:
If I right click on the compressed drive and go to 'properties' it looks
like I have the option of un-checking the 'compress drive' block. If I
decide that performance is degraded more than I wish, and were to uncheck
that block, what would happen to the files already compressed?




loren said:
Is there any downside to having them compressed?
Does it slow their processing?
Click to expand...
 
I had that same problem and reformated my WD Book drive to NTSC. But now I
am having a different problem with the WD Book. It constantly gives me a
delayed write file error and locks up the WD Book. I have to unplug and
disconnect it from my computer, wait a few minutes then replug it and
reconnect. It happens whether I use the USB port or the Firewire port and
mostly happens on large files when I am trying to transfer it. I looked up
the problem on Microsoft Support and there is a knowledge base writeup saying
I need a hotfix to correct the problem. The knowledge base does not give a
link to the hot fix download. When I click on the support link, it takes me
to the MS website contacts page. It says I have to call them for the hot
fix. Why don't they just have the hotfix available to download, why do I
have to call them? I do not have time to be waiting on the phone for someone
to help.
Sandy D
 
Sandy, I didn't have your problem so I can't comment on it. Reformatting
went very quickly for me, and the WD ebook seems to be working flawlessly, so
far.

But FYI there was one more action I took after receiveing the above posts:

After reformatting, I had just finished reading an article in the Aug 2007
issue of PC World, that said adding a page file to the external drive would
speed up it's processing. I followed the article's instructions, and the
drive does *seem* to be processing much faster. But I wouldn't even attempt
it until you fix your current problem first.




loren said:
Is there any downside to having them compressed?
Does it slow their processing?
Click to expand...
 
Sandy D said:
I had that same problem and reformated my WD Book drive to NTSC. But now I
am having a different problem with the WD Book. It constantly gives me a
delayed write file error and locks up the WD Book. I have to unplug and
disconnect it from my computer, wait a few minutes then replug it and
reconnect. It happens whether I use the USB port or the Firewire port and
mostly happens on large files when I am trying to transfer it. I looked
up
the problem on Microsoft Support and there is a knowledge base writeup
saying
I need a hotfix to correct the problem. The knowledge base does not give
a
link to the hot fix download. When I click on the support link, it takes
me
to the MS website contacts page. It says I have to call them for the hot
fix. Why don't they just have the hotfix available to download, why do I
have to call them? I do not have time to be waiting on the phone for
someone
to help.
Sandy D
Click to expand...

Something the respondents left out (not unusual) is that there is a matter
of user rights/security attached to the file data now. Not present in
FAT32.

Maybe they will tell you how to access that data when the removable drive is
attached to another XP PC.

There's a way, from the outset, to leave the security portion of NTFS files
nonsecure. All have access, including on another PC. A more real life
example if your PC is destroyed, burned, damaged beyond use. You need
another PC for example. How are you going to access that data?
Dave
 
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