Misleading error when copying large file to FAT32

I have a huge file(of size ~6GB). It is residing on my PC's NTFS drive,
My system is Windows XP SP2.

When I try to copy the file to a USB disk, which is formatted as FAT32 -
then it gives me error as "There is no enough disk space available"
(The wording might not be correct, but it said this thing).

While in fact, the problem is with the underlying file system.
One of my friend who is not expert, could not get the real root cause, and
unnecessarily deleted all the files on the drive thinking that it is really
'out of space'.

It would be great if Windows can flash the correct error; something like
"Underlying filesystem does not support such a big file" or something like
that - instead of saying "There is no disk space" which is actually a
misleading message.

Cheers,
-Sachin

Which file system was created first?
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Sachin wrote:
I have a huge file(of size ~6GB). It is residing on my PC's NTFS drive,
My system is Windows XP SP2.

When I try to copy the file to a USB disk, which is formatted as FAT32 -
then it gives me error as "There is no enough disk space available"
(The wording might not be correct, but it said this thing).

While in fact, the problem is with the underlying file system.
One of my friend who is not expert, could not get the real root cause, and
unnecessarily deleted all the files on the drive thinking that it is really
'out of space'.

It would be great if Windows can flash the correct error; something like
"Underlying filesystem does not support such a big file" or something like
that - instead of saying "There is no disk space" which is actually a
misleading message.

Cheers,
-Sachin

Which file system was created first?
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Sachin wrote:
I have a huge file(of size ~6GB). It is residing on my PC's NTFS drive,
My system is Windows XP SP2.

When I try to copy the file to a USB disk, which is formatted as FAT32 -
then it gives me error as "There is no enough disk space available"
(The wording might not be correct, but it said this thing).

While in fact, the problem is with the underlying file system.
One of my friend who is not expert, could not get the real root cause, and
unnecessarily deleted all the files on the drive thinking that it is really
'out of space'.

It would be great if Windows can flash the correct error; something like
"Underlying filesystem does not support such a big file" or something like
that - instead of saying "There is no disk space" which is actually a
misleading message.

Cheers,
-Sachin

"Leonard Grey" wrote:

Which file system was created first?

Actually the USB disk was purchased a year ago, and it was by default
formatted as FAT32, I didnt change it.

The XP machine was also setup 8-9 months back.
I tried on a freshly installed machine also (filesystem was created fresh)

As such, the USB disk was not always connected to my PC.

I didnt get what you are trying to ask, but to answer your question: "The
FAT32 file system on my USB disk was created first."

I tried copying from a pen drive(which was formatted to NTFS after I got
this error, and copied the file from PC's hard drive) to the USB disk(FAT32),
but same error.

"Leonard Grey" wrote:

Which file system was created first?

Actually the USB disk was purchased a year ago, and it was by default
formatted as FAT32, I didnt change it.

The XP machine was also setup 8-9 months back.
I tried on a freshly installed machine also (filesystem was created fresh)

As such, the USB disk was not always connected to my PC.

I didnt get what you are trying to ask, but to answer your question: "The
FAT32 file system on my USB disk was created first."

I tried copying from a pen drive(which was formatted to NTFS after I got
this error, and copied the file from PC's hard drive) to the USB disk(FAT32),
but same error.

"Sachin" wrote in message
...
I have a huge file(of size ~6GB). It is residing on my PC's NTFS drive,
My system is Windows XP SP2.

When I try to copy the file to a USB disk, which is formatted as FAT32 -
then it gives me error as "There is no enough disk space available"
(The wording might not be correct, but it said this thing).

While in fact, the problem is with the underlying file system.
One of my friend who is not expert, could not get the real root cause, and
unnecessarily deleted all the files on the drive thinking that it is really
'out of space'.

It would be great if Windows can flash the correct error; something like
"Underlying filesystem does not support such a big file" or something like
that - instead of saying "There is no disk space" which is actually a
misleading message.

Cheers,
-Sachin

================================================== ============


Your flash drive/usb drive needs to be formatted using NTFS
as the file system. A FAT32 drive cannot handle the
transfer of files exceeding 4GBs.


--
Regards,
Touch Base
Report back on the results, good or bad so others may benefit

"There's an old story about the person who wished his computer were as easy
to use as his telephone. That wish has come true, since I no longer know
how to use my telephone." (Bjarne Stroustrup, computer scientist and creator
of the C++ programming language.)

"Touch Base" wrote:

Your flash drive/usb drive needs to be formatted using NTFS
as the file system. A FAT32 drive cannot handle the
transfer of files exceeding 4GBs.


Thanks for the info.
I agree with what are you saying and ultimately did the same thing.

But my concern is that, the error message shown by Windows is misleading.
It does not talk(or gives hint) about what you have correctly explained.
So unless one has previous knowledge about this or does a search on it, he's
confused(thinking that, even though my device has enough space why does
windows complain?)
Hope I made it clear!

"Touch Base" wrote:

Your flash drive/usb drive needs to be formatted using NTFS
as the file system. A FAT32 drive cannot handle the
transfer of files exceeding 4GBs.


Thanks for the info.
I agree with what are you saying and ultimately did the same thing.

But my concern is that, the error message shown by Windows is misleading.
It does not talk(or gives hint) about what you have correctly explained.
So unless one has previous knowledge about this or does a search on it, he's
confused(thinking that, even though my device has enough space why does
windows complain?)
Hope I made it clear!

Sachin wrote:
"Touch Base" wrote:

Your flash drive/usb drive needs to be formatted using NTFS
as the file system. A FAT32 drive cannot handle the
transfer of files exceeding 4GBs.


Thanks for the info.
I agree with what are you saying and ultimately did the same thing.

But my concern is that, the error message shown by Windows is
misleading. It does not talk(or gives hint) about what you have
correctly explained.
So unless one has previous knowledge about this or does a search on
it, he's confused(thinking that, even though my device has enough
space why does windows complain?)
Hope I made it clear!

Fair enough point. What is the purpose of your post - are you trying to get
Microsoft to change the message? If so, this newsgroup isn't the route you
need. Not that they'd make such a change for a system like Windows XP at
this stage of its life, anyway.

Sachin wrote:
"Touch Base" wrote:

Your flash drive/usb drive needs to be formatted using NTFS
as the file system. A FAT32 drive cannot handle the
transfer of files exceeding 4GBs.


Thanks for the info.
I agree with what are you saying and ultimately did the same thing.

But my concern is that, the error message shown by Windows is
misleading. It does not talk(or gives hint) about what you have
correctly explained.
So unless one has previous knowledge about this or does a search on
it, he's confused(thinking that, even though my device has enough
space why does windows complain?)
Hope I made it clear!

Fair enough point. What is the purpose of your post - are you trying to get
Microsoft to change the message? If so, this newsgroup isn't the route you
need. Not that they'd make such a change for a system like Windows XP at
this stage of its life, anyway.

"Olórin" wrote:

Sachin wrote:
"Touch Base" wrote:

Your flash drive/usb drive needs to be formatted using NTFS
as the file system. A FAT32 drive cannot handle the
transfer of files exceeding 4GBs.


Thanks for the info.
I agree with what are you saying and ultimately did the same thing.

But my concern is that, the error message shown by Windows is
misleading. It does not talk(or gives hint) about what you have
correctly explained.
So unless one has previous knowledge about this or does a search on
it, he's confused(thinking that, even though my device has enough
space why does windows complain?)
Hope I made it clear!

Fair enough point. What is the purpose of your post - are you trying to get
Microsoft to change the message? If so, this newsgroup isn't the route you
need. Not that they'd make such a change for a system like Windows XP at
this stage of its life, anyway.



Ok, I get it
Hopefully Vista/Win7 is flashing some useful message(if at all they have
worked on this )

Anyways, sorry for putting this in wrong place :-p

"Olórin" wrote:

Sachin wrote:
"Touch Base" wrote:

Your flash drive/usb drive needs to be formatted using NTFS
as the file system. A FAT32 drive cannot handle the
transfer of files exceeding 4GBs.


Thanks for the info.
I agree with what are you saying and ultimately did the same thing.

But my concern is that, the error message shown by Windows is
misleading. It does not talk(or gives hint) about what you have
correctly explained.
So unless one has previous knowledge about this or does a search on
it, he's confused(thinking that, even though my device has enough
space why does windows complain?)
Hope I made it clear!

Fair enough point. What is the purpose of your post - are you trying to get
Microsoft to change the message? If so, this newsgroup isn't the route you
need. Not that they'd make such a change for a system like Windows XP at
this stage of its life, anyway.



Ok, I get it
Hopefully Vista/Win7 is flashing some useful message(if at all they have
worked on this )

Anyways, sorry for putting this in wrong place :-p

You missed the point.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Sachin wrote:
"Leonard Grey" wrote:

Which file system was created first?

Actually the USB disk was purchased a year ago, and it was by default
formatted as FAT32, I didnt change it.

The XP machine was also setup 8-9 months back.
I tried on a freshly installed machine also (filesystem was created fresh)

As such, the USB disk was not always connected to my PC.

I didnt get what you are trying to ask, but to answer your question: "The
FAT32 file system on my USB disk was created first."

I tried copying from a pen drive(which was formatted to NTFS after I got
this error, and copied the file from PC's hard drive) to the USB disk(FAT32),
but same error.

You missed the point.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Sachin wrote:
"Leonard Grey" wrote:

Which file system was created first?

Actually the USB disk was purchased a year ago, and it was by default
formatted as FAT32, I didnt change it.

The XP machine was also setup 8-9 months back.
I tried on a freshly installed machine also (filesystem was created fresh)

As such, the USB disk was not always connected to my PC.

I didnt get what you are trying to ask, but to answer your question: "The
FAT32 file system on my USB disk was created first."

I tried copying from a pen drive(which was formatted to NTFS after I got
this error, and copied the file from PC's hard drive) to the USB disk(FAT32),
but same error.

Not at all unusual for Windows. with your friend being a novice PC user he
should learn to research issues he runs into. Rather than deleting files
from the USB drive, it takes 3 seconds to check the amount of free space on
it, he then would have determined that what the error was saying wasn't what
the actual problem was.

--


------
"Sachin" wrote in message
...
"Touch Base" wrote:

Your flash drive/usb drive needs to be formatted using NTFS
as the file system. A FAT32 drive cannot handle the
transfer of files exceeding 4GBs.


Thanks for the info.
I agree with what are you saying and ultimately did the same thing.

But my concern is that, the error message shown by Windows is misleading.
It does not talk(or gives hint) about what you have correctly explained.
So unless one has previous knowledge about this or does a search on it,
he's
confused(thinking that, even though my device has enough space why does
windows complain?)
Hope I made it clear!