NTBackup FAT32 & USB issues.

[Donald Newcomb]

I'm using a Western Digital 80 GB USB drive as the backup medium for my Win
2000 desktop and two laptops; Win98 & XP. The drive came preformatted with a
single FAT32 volume. Now here's the problem. When a NTBackup file gets to
about 4.1 GB, the backup stops, reporting that the medium is full. Now, I
understand that this is probably due to a limitation on the maximum size
file supported by the FAT32 system and that I might be able to reformat the
drive as NTFS, but then I couldn't move the drive around to all the other
systems, including Win98.

So, is there any good work-around to make NTBackup split the backup between
two files?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I'm using a Western Digital 80 GB USB drive as the backup medium for my Win
2000 desktop and two laptops; Win98 & XP. The drive came preformatted with a
single FAT32 volume. Now here's the problem. When a NTBackup file gets to
about 4.1 GB, the backup stops, reporting that the medium is full. Now, I
understand that this is probably due to a limitation on the maximum size
file supported by the FAT32 system and that I might be able to reformat the
drive as NTFS, but then I couldn't move the drive around to all the other
systems, including Win98.

So, is there any good work-around to make NTBackup split the backup between
two files?

Two suggestions:
- Use xcopy.exe instead of ntbackup.exe.
- Run two backup jobs, one after the other, each
dealing with different areas of the disk.

 

[Donald Newcomb]

Two suggestions:
- Use xcopy.exe instead of ntbackup.exe.
- Run two backup jobs, one after the other, each
dealing with different areas of the disk.

Thanks. Number 2 was my first guess. I just didn't want to have to manually
partition the backup job. It would be nice if there were a way that NTBackup
would just prompt you for the next file name, the same way it would prompt
you to swap tapes. Oh, well.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks. Number 2 was my first guess. I just didn't want to have to manually
partition the backup job. It would be nice if there were a way that NTBackup
would just prompt you for the next file name, the same way it would prompt
you to swap tapes. Oh, well.

NTBackup.exe is designed for unattended operation, hence prompting
for the next file name would not be appropriate. It might, of course,
automatically generate a new name, but it does not . . .