Problem copying a large file

[רון]

I want to backup my outlook.pst file. It weighs almost 6GB. As I am trying to
copy it to my external HD, and even though I have enough free space on it, I
get an error message that I do not have enough free space.
Advice?

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

I want to backup my outlook.pst file. It weighs almost 6GB. As I am trying
to
copy it to my external HD, and even though I have enough free space on it,
I
get an error message that I do not have enough free space.
Advice?

You're probably copying it to a FAT32 partition. There is a limit of 4
GBytes per file on such partitions - see here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463. You need to convert it to an NTFS
partition.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I want to backup my outlook.pst file. It weighs almost 6GB. As I am trying to
copy it to my external HD, and even though I have enough free space on it, I
get an error message that I do not have enough free space.
Advice?

Your external drive is formatted as FAT32, and FAT32 has a file size
limit of 4GB.

If you try to write a file larger than 4GB you get the very poor,
misleading message you got.

Your solution is to save anything on the drive you need, then reformat
the drive as NTFS.

 

[dadiOH]

Your external drive is formatted as FAT32, and FAT32 has a file size
limit of 4GB.

If you try to write a file larger than 4GB you get the very poor,
misleading message you got.

MS was never very good at error messages, were they?
____________

Your solution is to save anything on the drive you need, then reformat
the drive as NTFS.

Or split the file so it will go to FAT32 drive. Or compress it. Or
compress *and* split.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

MS was never very good at error messages, were they?

LOL! They vary a lot, and some are worse than others. But this is one
of the worst, in my view.

Or split the file so it will go to FAT32 drive. Or compress it. Or
compress *and* split.

Yes, there are "ors." But they are more trouble and not as good. Among
their disadvantages is that they are one-time fixes for this
particular file only. I recommend reformatting as NTFS, which
*permanently* solves this problem, and all also provides all the
advantages of NTFS.

Moreover, depending on the file, there is no guarantee that
compressing will make it small enough.