Explorer Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I am trying to copy large files (5-7 GB) from my computer to an external harddisk, but I am not allowed. Is this a windows limitation? Is there a way to make it possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I am trying to copy large files (5-7 GB) from my computer to an external harddisk, but I am not allowed. Is this a windows limitation? Is there a way to make it possible?I regularly copy my whole system to an external drive for back up purposes, as do many others on here. I would think that the size is limited only by the size of the drive in question. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 What exactly do you mean by "not allowed" - do you get an error message?Also, how do you copy; drag-and-drop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 How is the external drive formatted?FAT32, the format in which these drives are usually supplied, has a file size limit of 4GB. This may explain the problem you're having.If you want to format in NTFS (the normal system for W2K and later) and provided there is nothing else on the drive, open Control Panel, RIGHT click on the drive letter and select format from the dropdown box. Follow the instructions. If there is data on the disk which you want to keep, the easiest and safest thing to to then is copy that data to another place then format your external drive. Note that this is not the "correct" way to do it but it is safer than converting a drive with data already there - I have had a failure using the "correct" method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Explorer Posted January 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I am trying to copy large files (5-7 GB) from my computer to an external harddisk, but I am not allowed. Is this a windows limitation? Is there a way to make it possible?I regularly copy my whole system to an external drive for back up purposes, as do many others on here. I would think that the size is limited only by the size of the drive in question. :DThe external drive is a 1TB one so I do not think this is the limitation. And it is possible to copy smaller files, just not the very big ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Explorer Posted January 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I am trying to copy large files (5-7 GB) from my computer to an external harddisk, but I am not allowed. Is this a windows limitation? Is there a way to make it possible?I regularly copy my whole system to an external drive for back up purposes, as do many others on here. I would think that the size is limited only by the size of the drive in question. :DThe external drive is a 1TB one so I do not think this is the limitation. And it is possible to copy smaller files, just not the very big ones.Thanks both. The error message is that there is no more space on the external drive. I do not have time now, but I'll try to investigate the tip about changing limit for files later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I have a 1 TB external drive and also an 80GB external drive. I have no such problem. Have you checked the formatting as described by Pat and pops? As far as I know, most if not ALL of these drives are supplied fprmatted to Fat 32, and you need to reformat them as described above. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Thanks both. The error message is that there is no more space on the external drive. I do not have time now, but I'll try to investigate the tip about changing limit for files laterIs that error message correct or incorrect? If there's literally no more space then that's the answer & no amount of other fiddling about will change things very much. Have you run disk cleanup on that disk to clear out the junk? Or better still used CCleaner to clean out even more junk? Or Opened the disk to examine & decide which old files you no longer need & deleting them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Explorer Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Hi again,The drive is totally new so the message om no space is not correct. I would have liked to attach a screen dump, but I could not find out how, so here is a description:When I right click on the drive letter and select format you have to choose standard allocation size which can be from 512 byte to 4096 byte. Which should I choose, and does that affect the size of the files I can copy to the drive. And if I reformat the external harddrive will I then be allowed to copy large files? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 If you reformat it as NTFS, then you should have no problems. If you plan to have only large files on that drive, then the largest possible cluster size would be best - 64KB if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Note that the file allocation has little to do with the size of the file you can store. If you are unsure of what it is or does, it may be best to leave at the default. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Explorer Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Hi all,I have now reformatted my external harddrive. It took 3 hours, but now it seemst to work.Thanks a lot everybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I'm not surprised it took that long - there's an awful lot of disk there!Pleased it's worked out OK. If you need to format again, you should be able to use the quick format method. This doesn't actually reformat, it removes part of the files to kid Windows that it is empty. Do not use quick format if there is any security aspect to the process e.g. selling the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 My 1 TB external drive took about the same time, possibly a little less. Glad it's worked out now. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Explorer Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Thanks again, and especially for the careful instructions. I am a true amateur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Stay around - we're always happy to help if we can and you might like it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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