Why can't I copy a 7 GB file to an external USB HD with 120 GB free?

Posted by Johann Gerell on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Johann Gerell
Published on 2009-11-03T06:52:25Z Indexed on 2010/06/09 12:23 UTC
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Filed under:

usb

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external-harddrive

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filesystems

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copy

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fat32

Yes, why can't I?

I was stashing away some old photography backup zips last night. I could copy 4 of my > 1 GB backup zips to my external USB connected hard-drive when I got the error message "Cannot copy file. Not enough free space." (sort of) for a zip of roughly 7 GB.

But there are 120 GB free. Why is this?

EDIT: Clarification - the files that I could copy was smaller than 4 GB. The failing one was 7 GB. The cause seems to be the FAT32 4 GB limit.

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