Users often encounter that when trying to record big file on the flash drive they get an error. This usually happens when trying to write a file larger than 4 GB. The system reports that the file is too large and refuses to write. At the same time, at the time of recording, there may be several tens of free gigabytes on the flash drive, but they cannot be used. If you are faced with a similar problem, then this article should help you. Here you will find out why the system refuses to record large files on a flash drive and how it can be fixed.
The reason this problem occurs is that most flash drives come from the factory with the FAT32 file system. This file system is quite old and therefore has many limitations, which are very noticeable in modern realities. In particular, the FAT32 file system does not support files larger than 4 gigabytes.
In order to get rid of this limitation and write files of any size to a flash drive, you need to change file system Flash drives from FAT32 to NTFS. This can be done in two ways: by formatting the flash drive in NTFS or by converting the file system from FAT32 to NTFS. Next we will look at both of these methods.
Method number 1. Formatting a flash drive.
The easiest way to be able to write large files to a flash drive is. In this case, all files from the flash drive will be deleted. Therefore, before formatting, you need to transfer them to a computer or another flash drive.
So, in order to format a flash drive in NTFS you need to open “My Computer” and click right click mouse on your flash drive. In the menu that opens, select “Format”.
As a result, a small window will open in front of you to format the flash drive. Here, in the “File system” drop-down menu, the “FAT32” option will be selected. You need to open this drop-down menu and select the NTFS file system.
The remaining settings can be left unchanged. After changing the file system, simply click on the “Start” button.
After this, you will see a warning about deleting files from the flash drive. In order to continue you need to click on the “Ok” button.
After this, the system will begin formatting the flash drive to NTFS. Typically the formatting process only takes a couple of seconds. Once everything is ready, you will see a corresponding message.
Method No. 2. Converting the file system from FAT32 to NTFS.
The second way to get the opportunity to write large files to a flash drive is to perform. When converting the file system, the files on the flash drive are saved. But, you still need to do backup copy files. Because if the conversion process fails, files may be lost.
In order to convert the file system, you need to open “Command Prompt” with administrator rights and run the command “ convert X: /FS:NTFS" In this case, the letter “X” must be replaced with the letter that was assigned to your flash drive when connected.
After executing this command, the system will begin converting the file system. The time required for conversion depends on the size of the flash drive, its speed and the number of files. But, in most cases, the conversion takes place in less than 1 minute. Once the conversion is complete, a message will appear in the Command Prompt indicating that the conversion is complete.
Now you can try to write a large file to the flash drive. If everything was done correctly, now files larger than 4 GB will be written without problems.
Yesterday a friend bought a new 16 GB flash drive and tried to copy a file of just over 4 GB in size to it, to his surprise operating system notified that the file is too large for the destination file system.
He tried to format it and copy the same file again, but without success. The fact is that by default flash drives have the FAT32 file system, which allows you to transfer files only up to 4 GB. For example, a friend has a 16 GB flash drive, he could put 4 files of 3 GB each with “kopecks” or a bunch of “small” files onto this flash drive. The problem can be solved in three clicks. You just need to change the file system on the flash drive from FAT32 to NTFS. To do this, open MY COMPUTER, on the flash drive you need to click right mouse, V context menu choose Format...
In the window that appears, select the NTFS file system and click the START button.
The system will notify you that formatting will destroy all data on the flash drive . You need to click the [OK] button. Upon completion of formatting, you will receive a flash drive with the NTFS file system. After these simple manipulations, you will be able to copy files larger than 4 GB to a flash drive.
If you already have some files on the flash drive and you don’t want to format them, then you can do it a little differently, change the file system to NTFS using the command line. To do this, call the Run command using the R key combination.
It is quite old and therefore has many limitations, including not supporting files larger than 4 GB.
In order to get rid of the limitation and write files larger than 4 GB to a flash drive, you need to change the file system from FAT32 to NTFS. This can be done by formatting the flash card (all data will be deleted) or by converting the flash drive from one format to another (NTFS) using the command line (the data will be saved, but it is better to make a backup copy in case of failure). Let's consider both options.
Formatting a flash drive / usb flash drive
Right-click on your flash drive - Format.
In the window that opens, select the NTFS file system
Then click the "Start" button
This way you will change the file system on your flash drive. With quick formatting, it usually takes no more than a minute.
Converting a file system usually takes no more than one minute; in any case, the larger the size of your flash drive, the longer the conversion will take.
After your flash drive is in NTFS format, you can try to write a large file to it (more than 4 GB). If everything was done correctly, then the files should be written and the flash drive will not dump them.
Hello.
It would seem like a simple task: transfer one (or several) files from one computer to another, having first written them to a flash drive. As a rule, problems do not arise with small (up to 4000 MB) files, but what to do with other (large) files that sometimes do not even fit on a flash drive (and even if they should fit, then for some reason an error appears when copying)?
In this short article I will give some tips that will help you write files larger than 4 GB to a flash drive. So…
Why does an error appear when copying a file larger than 4 GB to a flash drive?
Perhaps this is the first question with which to start the article. The fact is that many flash drives, by default, come with a file system FAT32. And after purchasing a flash drive, most users do not change this file system ( those. remains FAT32). But the file system FAT32 does not support files larger than 4 GB- so you start writing the file to the flash drive, and when it reaches the 4 GB threshold, a write error appears.
To eliminate such an error (or work around it), you can do several things:
- write not one large file, but many small ones (i.e., split the file into “pieces”. By the way, this method is suitable if you need to transfer a file whose size is larger than the size of your flash drive!);
- format the flash drive to another file system (for example, NTFS. Attention! Formatting deletes all data from the media );
- Convert FAT32 to NTFS file system without losing data.
I will consider each method in more detail.
1) How to split one large file into several small ones and write them to a flash drive
This method is good for its versatility and simplicity: you don’t need to make a backup copy of files from a flash drive (for example, to format it), you don’t need to convert anything anywhere (don’t waste time on these operations). In addition, this method is perfect if your flash drive is smaller than the file that needs to be transferred (you just have to transfer the pieces of the file 2 times, or use a second flash drive).
One of the most popular programs that often replaces Explorer. Allows you to perform all the most necessary operations on files: renaming (including mass), compression into archives, unpacking, splitting files, working with FTP, etc. In general, it is one of those programs that is recommended to have on your PC.
To split a file into Total Commander: select the desired file with the mouse, and then go to the menu: “ File/split file "(screenshot below).
Split file
Next, you need to enter the size of the parts in MB into which the file will be divided. The most popular sizes (for example, for recording on a CD) are already present in the program. In general, enter right size: for example, 3900 MB.
And then the program will split the file into parts, and all you have to do is write them all (or several of them) onto a flash drive and transfer them to another PC (laptop). In principle, this task is completed.
By the way, the screenshot above shows the source file, and in the red frame are the files that resulted when the source file was split into several parts.
To open the original file on another computer(where you will transfer these files), you need to do the reverse procedure: i.e. collect file. First transfer all the pieces of the broken source file, and then open Total Commander, select the first file ( with type 001, see screenshot above) and go to the menu “ File/collect file ". Actually, all that remains is to indicate the folder where the file will be collected and wait a while...
2) How to format a flash drive to the NTFS file system
The formatting operation will help if you are trying to write a file larger than 4 GB to a flash drive whose file system is FAT32 (i.e. does not support such large files). Let's look at the operation step by step.
Attention! When formatting a flash drive, all files on it will be deleted. Before this operation, make a backup copy of all the important data you have on it.
1) First you need to go to “My Computer” (or “This PC”, depending on the version of Windows).
3) Right-click on the flash drive and select the function “ Format"(see screenshot below).
After a few seconds (usually), the operation will be completed and you can continue working with the flash drive (including writing larger files to it than before).
3) How to convert FAT32 file system to NTFS
In general, despite the fact that the conversion operation from FAT32 to NTFS should take place without data loss, I recommend saving all important documents to a separate medium ( from personal experience : having done this operation dozens of times, one of them ended with some of the folders with Russian names losing their names, becoming hieroglyphs. Those. An encoding error occurred).
Also, this operation will take some time, so, in my opinion, formatting is a more preferable option for a flash drive ( with preliminary copying of important data. More on this in the article).
So, to convert, you need:
1) Go to " My computer" (or " this computer") and find out the drive letter of the flash drive (screenshot below).
2) Next run command line on behalf of administrator . In Windows 7, this is done through the “START/programs” menu; in Windows 8, 10, you can simply right-click on the “START” menu and select this command in the context menu (screenshot below).
All you have to do is wait until the operation is completed: the operation time will depend on the size of the disk. By the way, it is highly recommended not to run extraneous tasks during this operation.
That's all for me, good luck!
Sometimes it is not possible to copy a file to a flash drive, even if there is plenty of free space on it. For example, if you try to write an object that is larger than 4 GB, Windows user may see the message "The file... is too large for the destination file system."
In such cases, macOS displays the error “The object ... cannot be copied because it is too large for the format of this volume.”
This occurs if the current file system (data organization type) of the drive is FAT32 (or MS-DOS), which does not support writing files larger than 4 GB. To remove this limitation, change its file system.
Formatting deletes all information from the drive. Don't forget to make a copy of important data.
If you're on Windows, open File Explorer. Right-click on the flash drive and select “Format” from the context menu. In the window that opens, change the file system to NTFS if you plan to use the drive on Windows computers, or exFAT, so that it is fully compatible with both Windows and macOS.
Check the “Quick (clean table of contents)” option, click “Start” and wait until formatting is complete.
If you're using macOS, launch Disk Utility: Finder → Programs → Utilities → Disk Utility" Select the drive in the sidebar and click on the “Erase” button located at the top. In the next window, select the “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” format if you plan to use the flash drive on a Mac, or exFAT so that it is fully compatible with both macOS and Windows.
Click “Erase” and wait until formatting is complete.
After these manipulations, you will be able to record files of any size if there is enough free space on the drive for them.