Problems copying large video files to new external in XP

[KiltedFool]

My wife has several large video files on her two internal hard drives from dumping camcorder tapes to the drives.

She wants more solid backup so I got her an external burner and a 750GB external mybook for christmas.

Her OS is XP. SHe's got 1 GB of memory installed.

Her boot drive is a 75 GB NTFS file system with 37G free.
Her vidfile drive is a 75 GB NTFS file system with 10G free.

The new drive is a FAT32 system

She has 4 or 5 large files, 1 is 5 GB, the rest are 12 GB each.

No matter what method I try to use to copy them I get insufficient memory or various and sundry errors.

Smaller files (500 MB or so) have gone through with cut paste, drag and drop, what have you.

How do I copy off these large and important (to us) files? I'd like to duplicate some of them on 2-3 of the hard drives we have on our little home network (6 internal and 1 external in 3 comps) at some point.

Help?

 

[Linflas]

Are you trying to copy them to the FAT32 WD drive? That is your problem if so. The max file size in FAT32 is 4GB. If you want to use the WD drive you need to convert it to NTFS.

 

[KiltedFool]

That's exactly what I'm trying to do, the new drive is intended to serve as a main backup for all of the other drives in our home network, so most files that we care about exist at least 2-3 places on the network AND on a burned DVD or two.

How do I go about converting it to the other file system, and is there a strong pro and con associated with either filing system? Or can you point me at a resource to read up on the differences?

Thanks.

 

[mechBgon]

If the drive letter were E:, then log onto an Administrator account and Start > Run > convert E: /fs:ntfs /x and off it goes.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
If the drive letter were E:, then log onto an Administrator account and Start > Run > convert E: /fs:ntfs /x and off it goes.

Thanks, mate! I've been wondering about that as well...

Two questions:

1) Is this a non-destructive procedures, which leaves the data intact? and
2) Will this also work with external (USB) hard drives?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson

Originally posted by: mechBgon
If the drive letter were E:, then log onto an Administrator account and Start > Run > convert E: /fs:ntfs /x and off it goes.

Thanks, mate! I've been wondering about that as well...

Two questions:

1) Is this a non-destructive procedures, which leaves the data intact? and
2) Will this also work with external (USB) hard drives?

1) yes, data remains intact

2) yes it does work on external drives too, I had to do it to my little sister's external for a similar reason

 

[KiltedFool]

Thanks mech, you've always been a great help when I wander in with questions like this, I think one of my comps is still running that first gen nForce all in one board you used to use and recommend years ago, it might even be the one I was doing this drive with.

I didn't know if the data would survive so I just copied it back, and it's a USB drive too. TOok a while, but smooth as buttah to convert, so thanks again.

Now, to find a high quality cheap 2GB DDR400 kit to go in my BFGtech nForce4 Ultra mobo, the only name I'm sure on quality since last I shopped for this is Corsair XMS, and the cheaper kits are all out of stock.

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: KiltedFool
Now, to find a high quality cheap 2GB DDR400 kit to go in my BFGtech nForce4 Ultra mobo, the only name I'm sure on quality since last I shopped for this is Corsair XMS, and the cheaper kits are all out of stock.

Yeah, cheap prices for good plain DDR is a rarity these days.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: KiltedFool
How do I copy off these large and important (to us) files? I'd like to duplicate some of them on 2-3 of the hard drives we have on our little home network (6 internal and 1 external in 3 comps) at some point.

I've been running a LAN for years, so take my word on this...

The best way to transfer files between machines is to use FTP protocol!

As you've discovered, the bigger the file, the more problems you're gonna have...

What I do is install a FTP server on the machine that hosts the files.

My current favorite is Cerberus FTP (*FREE* for personal use)

Install it on your host machine, then use a FTP client (Internet Explorer has FTP built-in too) to transfer the files to the other machines.

FTP works every time - it's the only reason it's still around...

 

[yinan]

I doesnt matter what protocol is used to transfre the files, if the filesystem doesnt support the size files that are being transferred they will not be able to be stored. CIFS is just as good if not better for copying files in a LAN environment.

Jim