File is too large for the destination file - Solution

Once again the Internet to the rescue. Today a colleague asked about a problem trying to copy a 8 GB file to a thumb-drive with the resulting error message "File is too large for the destination file". The interesting thing is how things  you have studied a long time ago comes following back.

The issue lies in the differences between the FAT32(File Allocation Table) and NTFS(New Technology File System) file system.  FAT32 only allows file sizes of up to 4GB and volumes of 2TB*.  NTFS in theory can support much larger files, 16 EB less 1kB to be exact but in practice 2-4TB. 

A EB, Exabyte is equivalent to 1,000,000 TB, terabytes.

Solution

Change the File System from FAT32 to NTFS by re-formatting the drive (thumb-drive)


  • Find the thumb-drive in My computer
  • Highlight and right-click
  • Click Format
  • Change File System from "FAT32" to "NTFS"
  • Change Allocation unit size to "Default allocation size"
  • Select Quick Format"
  • Click Start 
  • Click okay


Note: This wipes the drive clean(deletes everything) so ensure you back up whatever you had on the drive.


Thanks Shel Yadav for a simple video with the steps.


* Generally accepted limit.

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