Page 1 of probs with external hdd

I have a usb external hard drive with just under 300Gb of memory. I have 133 gb of space left yet when i try to copy over a dvd sized file over it tells me that there is no enough space and to run disk clean up, yet if i copy over several smaller files totaling a dvd sized amount it copies them over. any ideas?

Errrr, and where`s the bargain ?

First thing I can think is:

This would be better posted over on the PCs and mobiles forum!

Second thing is:

How is the external disk formatted? If it isn`t NTFS, then it won`t handle a file size greater than 4Gb. For more info look here.

HIH

LB2

As LB2 says, probably the format, sounds like it is FAT32 when you need NTFS.

If it`s fat32 there is a conversion utility within XP which works perfectly on internel hdd`s, never tried it on an external drive though.

If it is fat32 I`m happy to tell you how to convert it but can`t predict how it will cope with an external drive.

Thats strange i thought i was in the pc forum

soz

I have checked and it is fat 32 how would i change this to ntfs

thanks

Not too sure on this (as I haven`t got an external drive) but if you open My computer on the desk top, find your external drive and right click on the external drives icon and select "Format... " from the drop down menu, you should then get a box with different options including "File System" where you should select NTFS from the drop down selections and then format.

Alternatively you could try this - (right-click) My Computer > Manage > Disk Management > (right-click) the external drive and select "Format" > Choose whether you want a "Quick Format" or "Enable File and Folder Compression".

HIH

LB2

Don`t forget you`ll lose all content that`s on the drive when you format.

"Every time I learn something new it pushes some old stuff out of my brain!"

If you are going to lose all your data anyway, you might as well try the conversion. I`m pretty sure it will work and you won`t lose a thing. As I said though, I haven`t used it on a USB HDD before so no blaming me if it all vanishes.

Click "Start", go to "run" type "cmd" obviously without the ". The command requires you giving the drive letter I`m going to call it E and drive label you want to convert I`ll call it external.

In the black dos box facing you type "convert E: /fs:ntfs" it will then ask if you are sure and for the drive label. It will chunter away and depending on the drive/pc should finish in a minute or so.

Best of luck :B