windows acting like there is not enough space on external drive

[quina123]

this is strange, yet irritating one. I'm trying to copy a 6 gb file to my external hard drive that has well over 400 GB capacity, currently over 255 GB free, and windows says there's not enough space to copy the file. Lies it be telling. there is so enough space on the drive. actually both hard drive and external at that. please help, this is ridiculous.

can't upload to the cloud takes to long.

running windows 10 64 bit.

 

[i7Baby]

maybe the file size is too big. if ntfs format should be 16gb. if fat - 4gb. try a checkdisk on the drive.

 

[quina123]

maybe the file size is too big. if ntfs format should be 16gb. if fat - 4gb. try a checkdisk on the drive.

the drives format is FAT32. but how? how could the file size be to big?

 

[JimmiG]

the drives format is FAT32. but how? how could the file size be to big?

FAT32 uses a 32-bit number for the file length (size) entry in the directory table. The maximum value of a 32-bit integer is about 4 billion, which is also the number of bytes in a 4GB file. So that's the largest file size FAT32 can reference. FAT32 has been around since the mid 90's. At that time, nobody stored files as large as 4GB.

Unless you need to use FAT32 for compatibility, you should convert the drive to NTFS which supports larger files. It's a more robust file system that reduces the risk of data loss.

 

[RecoveryForce]

You can convert a FAT32 drive to NTFS without losing any data, but I still recommend having a full backup before you do. It is a built-in windows application at the command line. Type "convert /?" at the dos prompt to see how to use it.

The more data that is on the drive, the slower the process.

Remember, once it is converted to NTFS, it is no longer writable in MacOS.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Unless you need to use FAT32 for compatibility, you should convert the drive to NTFS which supports larger files. It's a more robust file system that reduces the risk of data loss.

There is also exFAT for external drives. Its not as robust as NTFS, but slightly faster.

 

[quina123]

is NTFS compatible with Xbox 360 state? wondering.
how do I use this built in windows app with command line: convert/?

 

[i7Baby]

time to google - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/214579