2 gig file will not transfer

[riggie]

Hi Everyone
My mate recorded a film on his camera and the total size was 2gig.
He downloaded the file on to his XP computer to the C drive with no
problems, but when he tried to transfer to his 250gig USB plug in drive ( F drive) for storage the computer said not enough space available? There is only 25gigs used on the drive so there is loads of space.
any ideas
cheers
riggie

[emailrob]

Is there more than 2 gig spare on the C drive? It needs that much to cache before it copies over to the USB drive

[riggie]

Hi emailrob
Just checked and there's more than 40g spare on c drive

[Van Nugent]

You'll need to convert the FAT/FAT32 volume on the USB drive to NTFS. Have a look here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881).

[PhilEnfield]

If the USB drive is FAT32, I believe you should be able to copy files to it up to 4gb.

I'm wondering if this might be an XP glitch/USB issue on his box.

[riggie]

That's what I thought the file size was Ok but obviously not with this USB drive, looks like it is easy to convert the drive to NTFS without formatting. cheers Van Nugent. Will ask what the file type is first on the USB drive and if
he wants to convert.
I will relay all this info ....will keep you posted on the results
cheers
riggie

[Van Nugent]

When we're trying to write a file to a hard drive and the OS complains that there is not enough space while actually there is still plenty, it means the HDD we're trying to write to was formatted with an older file system that couldn't handle the file size. For Windows XP, NT and VISTA, NTFS should be used to provide better security supports and for files that are larger than 2GB.

Edit: Your friend should not convert the USB drive to NTFS if he still uses it for Windows 98/9x and DOS (which is unlikely the case :)). Otherwise, it's strongly recommended to use NTFS on later Windows versions.

[PhilEnfield]

I might be missing something here Van, ....... whilst I agree that NTFS is preferable/recommended, he should still be able to copy a file upto 4gb if it's a FAT32 drive .... or am I going balmy :)

[Van Nugent]

You're correct, Phil, that FAT32 supports files of up to 4GB in size whereas FAT16 (FAT) supports only 2GB max files. However, transfering files larger than 2GB to a FAT32 volume over the network or in an external case in some cases can be a problem. If his USB drive is already in NTFS, there may be something wrong with his system/Windows as you said. If the USB drive is now in FAT, converting to NTFS can solve his problem.

[PhilEnfield]

Understood m8y ....... as you said earlier, let's hope he is not using it on W98.

[Lazza]

Yup, bet the drive is only "FAT" formatted hence the above problems. ;)

[riggie]

Hi All
Just to clear things up. The USB drive is in NTFS and he is using
Windows XP SP2.
As someone said there must be something wrong with his system/Windows
He is keeping the file size down for the moment.
anyway thanks for the help
cheers
riggie