Transfering large files

I have some movie files that are larger than 4GB. When I try moving them to my external hard drive a window pops up and says that the file is too large to move. The external hard drive is formatted to fat32. Is there a way to transfer these files without reformatting the external hard drive to NTFS? My OS is Vista basic, 32 bit. I also have Service Pack 1. The method I am using is right-click-dragging  the file and then telling it to move.

I know I originally said in the other thread that you needed to reformat, but that’s not true. You can convert the drive with a DOS command (but you still may want to back up anything important on the drive, just in case). Go to Start>Run and type “cmd” in the dialog box and click OK. This brings up the DOS command prompt. Now type in “convert X: /fs:ntfs” (substituting the correct drive letter for “X” ).

Message Edited by gwk1967 on 02-28-2009 05:53 PM

Oh, man, I was hoping for a more simple solution. lol  The problem is this: I have 518 GB of movies on the hard drive already and I don’t have anything to back them up on. I’m hoping I don’t have to copy all my DVD’s again. There is a another question I have. After I got my bigger external hard drive I started copying my DVD’s directly onto it, but if the movie was bigger than 4GB, it broke it up into two files. So if I do do convert the drive to NTFS, will it quit breaking up the files?

What I would do is use a program to break the files into 2 pieces and transfer them to the external, and then use the same program edit them back into one file on the external.

Can you give me the name of a program?

For a trial convert, I tried converting an SD card. It said it could not create the elementary file system structures. Is an SD card a stupid thing to convert? or is it possible?

If you have windows just use windows movie maker.

@sawdustmaker wrote:
I have some movie files that are larger than 4GB. When I try moving them to my external hard drive a window pops up and says that the file is too large to move. The external hard drive is formatted to fat32. Is there a way to transfer these files without reformatting the external hard drive to NTFS? My OS is Vista basic, 32 bit. I also have Service Pack 1. The method I am using is right-click-dragging  the file and then telling it to move.

Have you tried highlighting the file, then going to the Edit menu and selecting ‘Move To Folder…’? By right-clicking on the file, I believe you are using Windows Clipboard and depending on how full your drive is, you may not have enough free space available (RAM or HD) to do it that way.

You might also try the ‘Send To’ command in the right-click context menu if your extrernal drive shows up there.

@sawdustmaker wrote:
I have some movie files that are larger than 4GB. When I try moving them to my external hard drive a window pops up and says that the file is too large to move. The external hard drive is formatted to fat32. Is there a way to transfer these files without reformatting the external hard drive to NTFS? My OS is Vista basic, 32 bit. I also have Service Pack 1. The method I am using is right-click-dragging  the file and then telling it to move.

Have you tried highlighting the file, then going to the Edit menu and selecting ‘Move To Folder…’? By right-clicking on the file, I believe you are using Windows Clipboard and depending on how full your drive is, you may not have enough free space available (RAM or HD) to do it that way.

You might also try the ‘Send To’ command in the right-click context menu if your external drive shows up there.

I can’t find an Edit menu on the window. lol when it comes to computers I’m too illiterate.

You’re in Windows Explorer (or My Computer), right? Up at the top of the screen in the left-hand corner you should see:

File     Edit     View     Favorites     Tools     Help

Click on the Edit; you get a drop-down menu with several choices (Cut, Copy, Paste, etc.). One of thses should be Move to Folder…

You’re in Windows Explorer (or My Computer), right? Up at the top of the screen in the left-hand corner you should see:

File     Edit     View     Favorites     Tools     Help

Click on the Edit; you get a drop-down menu with several choices (Cut, Copy, Paste, etc.). One of these should be Move to Folder…

You’re in Windows Explorer (or My Computer), right? Up at the top of the screen in the left-hand corner you should see:

File     Edit     View     Favorites     Tools     Help

Click on the Edit; you get a drop-down menu with several choices (Cut, Copy, Paste, etc.). One of these should be Move to Folder…

Then just navigate to your external hard drive (and/or the folder you wish to transfer it to)  and click OK.

It may just be my windows settings but I thought they did away with that menu with vista. Is it just my settings?

@tapeworm wrote:

You’re in Windows Explorer (or My Computer), right? Up at the top of the screen in the left-hand corner you should see:

 

File     Edit     View     Favorites     Tools     Help

 

Click on the Edit; you get a drop-down menu with several choices (Cut, Copy, Paste, etc.). One of these should be Move to Folder…

 

Then just navigate to your external hard drive (and/or the folder you wish to transfer it to)  and click OK.

It doesn’t matter what method is used, as long as the drive is FAT32 it won’t be able to store files larger than 4GB. It’s a limitation of the file structure.

@sawdustmaker wrote:
It may just be my windows settings but I thought they did away with that menu with vista. Is it just my settings?

Oops! My mistake. I didn’t see in your original post where you said you were running Vista.

gwk1967: is it possible to convert an sd card to NTSF?

@sawdustmaker wrote:
Oh, man, I was hoping for a more simple solution. lol  The problem is this: I have 518 GB of movies on the hard drive already and I don’t have anything to back them up on. I’m hoping I don’t have to copy all my DVD’s again. There is a another question I have. After I got my bigger external hard drive I started copying my DVD’s directly onto it, but if the movie was bigger than 4GB, it broke it up into two files. So if I do do convert the drive to NTFS, will it quit breaking up the files?

It should. Apparently whatever program you were using to rip your DVDs was “smart” enough to break up the movie when copying to a FAT32 drive, so hopefully it knows not to when copying to an NTFS drive.

@sawdustmaker wrote:
gwk1967: is it possible to convert an sd card to NTSF?

I really don’t know. Sorry.

How big a risk is it to convert without backing up your files? I just want to know if I can blame you if I lose all my files. I’m kidding.