USB external hard drive error message

[schmitt.mark]

I have a Dell Dimension 8250, P4 2.3 ghz PC with 1 GB
DRAM and three hard-drives (two EIDE internal and one USB
external) running Windows XP. I have the large storage
capacity because I use the PC to edit videos.

Here is my problem. I can copy large video files (over 1
GB each) from one internal drive to the other internal
drive with no problem ... but when I try to copy that same
file onto the USB external drive I get an error message
which says the external drive is full and to remove
programs to create more space. The external drive is a
120 GB Western Digital ... and has over 100 GB free space.

(Note: I CAN copy smaller files ... 10 mb for example ...
with no problems. But anything over 1GB ... no go!)

A similar problem happens when I try to copy from the
external drive to the internal ... only instead of getting
a "not enough space" message the system just ignors the
request.

Any ideas what might be wrong? Are there special drivers
or BIOS upgrades I need to copy larger files to an
external USB drive?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Jim Macklin]

How is the drive formatted and what does it show as in disk
management?
What make and model ext drive and what make and model
enclosure?

Are you running SP1?


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


"(e-mail address removed)"
| I have a Dell Dimension 8250, P4 2.3 ghz PC with 1 GB
| DRAM and three hard-drives (two EIDE internal and one USB
| external) running Windows XP. I have the large storage
| capacity because I use the PC to edit videos.
|
| Here is my problem. I can copy large video files (over 1
| GB each) from one internal drive to the other internal
| drive with no problem ... but when I try to copy that same
| file onto the USB external drive I get an error message
| which says the external drive is full and to remove
| programs to create more space. The external drive is a
| 120 GB Western Digital ... and has over 100 GB free space.
|
| (Note: I CAN copy smaller files ... 10 mb for example ...
| with no problems. But anything over 1GB ... no go!)
|
| A similar problem happens when I try to copy from the
| external drive to the internal ... only instead of getting
| a "not enough space" message the system just ignors the
| request.
|
| Any ideas what might be wrong? Are there special drivers
| or BIOS upgrades I need to copy larger files to an
| external USB drive?
|
| Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Hi

Are you using USB1.1 for the ext.HDD.
If yes, try using USB 2.0 or Firewire 1394 for the ext. hdd

Pete


----- Jim Macklin wrote: ----

How is the drive formatted and what does it show as in dis
management
What make and model ext drive and what make and mode
enclosure

Are you running SP1


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome


"(e-mail address removed)
| I have a Dell Dimension 8250, P4 2.3 ghz PC with 1 G
| DRAM and three hard-drives (two EIDE internal and one US
| external) running Windows XP. I have the large storag
| capacity because I use the PC to edit videos

| Here is my problem. I can copy large video files (over
| GB each) from one internal drive to the other interna
| drive with no problem ... but when I try to copy that sam
| file onto the USB external drive I get an error messag
| which says the external drive is full and to remov
| programs to create more space. The external drive is
| 120 GB Western Digital ... and has over 100 GB free space

| (Note: I CAN copy smaller files ... 10 mb for example ..
| with no problems. But anything over 1GB ... no go!

| A similar problem happens when I try to copy from th
| external drive to the internal ... only instead of gettin
| a "not enough space" message the system just ignors th
| request

| Any ideas what might be wrong? Are there special driver
| or BIOS upgrades I need to copy larger files to a
| external USB drive

| Any advice would be appreciated

 

[John]

"(e-mail address removed)"
| I have a Dell Dimension 8250, P4 2.3 ghz PC with 1 GB
| DRAM and three hard-drives (two EIDE internal and one USB
| external) running Windows XP. I have the large storage
| capacity because I use the PC to edit videos.
|
| Here is my problem. I can copy large video files (over 1
| GB each) from one internal drive to the other internal
| drive with no problem ... but when I try to copy that same
| file onto the USB external drive I get an error message
| which says the external drive is full and to remove
| programs to create more space. The external drive is a
| 120 GB Western Digital ... and has over 100 GB free space.
|
| (Note: I CAN copy smaller files ... 10 mb for example ...
| with no problems. But anything over 1GB ... no go!)
|
| A similar problem happens when I try to copy from the
| external drive to the internal ... only instead of getting
| a "not enough space" message the system just ignors the
| request.
|
| Any ideas what might be wrong? Are there special drivers
| or BIOS upgrades I need to copy larger files to an
| external USB drive?
|
| Any advice would be appreciated.

I used to have a similar problem, but the limit was 4GB, and was cured by
using Partition Magic to change the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
Probably not relevant to your case.

 

[Bob Harris]

I presume that the external disk is USB 2.0, not 1.1. If so, that should be
fully supported under XP with SP-1, using the defualt SP-1 drivers. 120 Gig
is small enough that you do not need to do anything special in XP.

As for the 1Gig limit, have you experimented to see whether it is almost
exactly 1Gig, or just somewhere between 10Meg and 1Gig? I recall that the
old FAT16 file system may have had a 1Gig limit, but clearly you could not
be using FAT16, since it also had a partition size limit of about 2 Gig.
FAT32 has a 4Gig limit per file, NTFS has esentially no limit on file size.
Unless you share this external drive with a PC running 98 or ME, I would use
NTFS.

Have you tried using the COPY command, run from a command promt, instead of
windows explorer? Be sure to use the /V option, meaning verify that the
file copied is the same as the original. For example: COPY C:\file.xxx X:\
/V, where X:\ is the external drive (or whaever letter it happens to be on
your PC).

I have noticed that a copying large files (via COPY or via explorer) seems
to use a lot of CPU resources, and almost freezes my PC at work, which is an
IBM 2GHz box, 512Meg RAM, 100Mhz buss, memory unknow, but likely PC100 or
so. My home PC also feels the strain, but not as much. It is a home-built
2.53 GHz, 1Gig RAM, 533Mhz buss, PC2100 memory.

I mention my experience with copying, since if your PC is asked to do
something else while copying, that could potentially interrupt the copy, or
cause the PC to get confused. Even if you do not activate any other
software, then could still be things happening in the background. Try using
the XP task manager to watch which processes are sucking CPU cycles while
the copy is happening. You might also try temporarily stopping your virus
scanner, then try the copy.

 

[Marcus Fox]

I have a Dell Dimension 8250, P4 2.3 ghz PC with 1 GB
DRAM and three hard-drives (two EIDE internal and one USB
external) running Windows XP. I have the large storage
capacity because I use the PC to edit videos.

With the device connected, right click on My Computer and select Manage. On
the following screen, click on Disk Management. It should now show up on the
right hand side of the screen..... assign it a drive letter.


Marcus