File move to External Hard Drive

[Atom]

I would greatly appreciate some help. I have a 20GB file that I am trying to move to a 120GB External Hard drive that has 82.4GB free space. But, when I try to drag and drop in Windows Explorer(XP) or to copy and paste an error message comes up that says: "Cannot copy xxxxx. There is not enough free disk space. Delete one or more files to free disk space, and then try again." There should be enough free disk space. So, I don't understand. The file can be moved within the drive to other folders without any problem. Also, other files can be moved onto and off of the external hard drive so it does not seem to be a problem with that.

[vehelpfulguy]

How is the external hard drive formatted?

When you format a hard drive you can format it as Fat32 or NTFS.

I believe the maximum file size for a Fat32 drive is 4Gb (see link below).

If a hard disk is formatted NTFS then there is no maximum file size.

You can reformat the drive to NTFS but you will lose everything on it so make sure you empty the drive first before reformatting.

There may be programs around to convert a Fat32 to NTFS (I have never had to do it) but even if there is I would still backup everything on the hard drive first.

http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/2725 3/what-are-the-maximum-volume-sizes-and-maximu m-file-sizes-for-the-various-windows-file-syst ems.html

[vehelpfulguy]

Rather annoyingly he has also asked this in "Technology" - Wish people would not do that.

It has also been answered there by others.

[LewPaper]

So what's so wrong with asking in two places? If it gets the correct answer I'd use all of 'em

[Atom]

Thanks all. I apologize for posting in two locations. This was my first time. "Computers" is under "Technology" so I thought posting in Technology would go to Computers. However, Technology is also a category by itself even though it is one level higher. When I discovered my error, I also posted in Computers so it would be in the correct location. But, still not certain it would actually show up in two places simultaneously. Now I know. I suppose other people may run into the same thing. Posting directly to Technology should not be allowed if it is a primary category. Instead there should be a minor category under Technology called "Other".