You can store collections of movies in high quality, images, games, archives. If you tried to transfer something to such a flash drive, and the window "File is too large for the target file system" or the inscription "No disk space" pops up, this does not mean that the flash drive is faulty or damaged. Most likely, there is a limitation on it. And you will not be able to transfer a file to it that is larger than 4 GB. Even if the storage media is 32 GB. At the same time, 10 videos of 3 GB each can be thrown onto it without any problems.
This is due to the file system (FS) and is associated with some of its features. Usually flash drives have one of the FAT versions - File Allocation Table. It is she who does not allow writing a large file to an external disk. Even on a 128 GB flash drive.
There is another FS - NTFS or New Technology File System. It is widely used in Microsoft Windows. And does not block the download if the file exceeds 4 GB. Also in NTFS, the size of each cluster is much smaller - this is a kind of area into which information is added.
To make an analogy, imagine a piece of paper with a tic-tac-toe box drawn on it. One cell equals a cluster. If you put a cross in it, then fill it in completely (that is, you will no longer be able to write any data there). Even if there is still room in it. For both file systems, the total size of this field is the same - for example, one notebook sheet. In FAT, 9 cells fit on it (field 3 by 3). And in NTFS - 49 (field 7 by 7). Because in the second case, the clusters (cells) are smaller.
In addition, in NTFS, you can configure quotas and set access rights. There is logging in there, which improves reliability.
If during copying you see the warning "The file is too large for the target file system", then the drive has FAT installed. To check this:
- Insert the USB stick into the USB port.
- Open "My Computer". Your flash media should be displayed there.
- Click on it with the right mouse button.
- Select Properties. The information you need will be there.
It is easy to find out the file system type - to do this, go to the Media Properties
If “FAT” is specified, then only data up to 4 GB in size can be written to the disk. But what if you've downloaded a video and want to watch it on TV? Or do you need to transfer an archive of photos?
You can remove the limitation on the maximum volume. Before copying a large file to a USB flash drive, change the file system. If the drive is a bootable disk, leave FAT.
Formatting
The easiest way is to format the USB drive and immediately configure it with the desired settings. But absolutely all information, even encoded and hidden, will be erased from it. Therefore, you need to throw everything that is there on another medium. You can then return your documents to a formatted disk.
Here's how to write a large file to a USB stick:
- Insert its USB port.
- Open "My Computer"
- Right-click on the name of the flash drive.
- Click "Format".
- Select "NTFS" from the drop-down list.
- Click "Start".
- Wait.
After that, the warning "File is too large for the target file system" disappears.
If there is no "NTFS" line in that menu, do the following:
- Open "Control Panel". You can enter it through the "Start".
- You need a "Device Manager". It is in the Hardware and Sound category. Open it up.
- Expand the Disk drives list.
- Find your USB stick in it.
- Click on its name with the right mouse button.
- Item "Properties".
- Policy tab.
- Place a marker next to the line “Optimize for performance”.
- Click OK.
Try to format the flash drive to NTFS again. And you can drop a large file on it.
Conversion
The drive can be converted to the desired file system. To do this, Windows has the option "File System Conversion Utility" or "Convert.exe". You do not need to start it manually. In it, control through commands.
Here's how to transfer a large file to a USB flash drive:
- In the input field, write "cmd" without quotes. A window with a black background and white symbols will open. This is the command line.
- Insert the drive into the USB slot.
- Open "My Computer".
- Find your USB stick there. Look at its disk name (external devices are assigned letter names "F:", "L:", "H:").
- In the command line, enter or copy the command "convert [drive name] / fs: ntfs / nosecurity / x". Replace "drive name" with the letter of your flash drive. And after it put a colon. That is, you should get something like "convert G: ...".
- Wait until the message "Conversion complete" appears.
Now try writing a large file to your drive.
Nothing is erased from the media when converted. But still, before changing the file system, clean the USB flash drive and create a backup copy of the data. There must be free space on the USB stick for the conversion to succeed.
If during the conversion the error "Enter the volume label for the disk" appears, write the label (full name of the disk). Or uncheck it in the "Properties" menu in the "General" section. Just remove what is written in the input field at the top.
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
Use the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool to convert your USB stick.
- Search on the Internet and download this utility. There should be only one executable file "HPUSBDisk.exe".
- Click on it with the right mouse button.
- Select "As Administrator".
- Find your USB flash drive in the "Devices" list. It should already be inserted into the USB port.
- Enter NTFS in the File system field.
- You can set a label ("Volume Label").
- During the conversion, all data from the drive will be erased. It makes sense to copy them to a PC and then return them to a flash drive.
- Click "Start". Before doing this, check that you have selected the correct media. So as not to accidentally format something else.
Then try writing the data you want to the drive.
Now you know how to upload a large file to a USB flash drive. We need to transfer it to another file system. Then the size limitation will disappear. Choose any method you like.
Hello dear visitors. They asked me yesterday a question, they say, what to do, I can not upload a large file to a USB flash drive? The system says that there is not enough disk space, but there is enough space on the flash drive. It was necessary to copy a movie about 9 GB in size to a USB flash drive with a size of 16 GB. If you think logically, then everything should fit, but the system refused to upload such a large file to the USB flash drive and that's it.
I knew what was the matter, and while explaining what needs to be done, a bright thought appeared in my head that I should write about this in the blog, so I am actually writing :). Let's first explain why the files are large, and to be precise, the files over 4 GB do not want to be written to the USB flash drive and a message appears that there is not enough disk space.
The fact is that when you buy a USB flash drive, it is already formatted into the file system FAT32 and the file system is FAT32 does not support files larger than 4 GB... Here's the thing, it's very simple. We need to change the file system of the flash drive from FAT32 to NTFS... Because the NTFS file system, if I'm not mistaken, supports files up to 16 GB.
This question is becoming more and more relevant every day, because the size of memory on flash drives is growing and they are getting cheaper every day. You can already buy a 16 GB flash drive, for the same money that a year ago you could buy only 4 GB.
We just need to change the file system of our flash drive from FAT32 to NTFS. I will now write two ways in which you can do this.
We format the USB flash drive to the NTFS file system
I already wrote about how. But I think it will not be superfluous to repeat it again, and pay special attention to the fact that we are formatting it into an NTFS system.
Attention! Formatting the flash drive will destroy all the information on it. Make sure that your flash drive does not have the files you need. If so, copy them to your computer.
We connect the USB flash drive to the computer, wait until the computer recognizes it, go to "My computer" and right-click on our flash drive, select "Format".
A window will open in which we need to select the NTFS file system, select and click "Start". We agree to the warning system.
After the formatting process is completed, you will receive a blank USB flash drive with the NTFS file system, to which you can copy large files.
Converting a USB flash drive to NTFS for writing large files
The second method is a simple conversion of the flash drive to NTFS, this method is essentially different from the first, only in that the files that you have on the flash drive will not be lost. But I still advise you not to risk it and copy the files you need to your computer.
Our flash drive is connected and recognized by the computer. We go to "Start", "All programs", "Standard" and select "Run". Or just press Win + R. A window will open in which we write the command cmd and click “Ok”.
A window will open in which we need to register a command to convert a flash drive to NTFS:
convert k: / fs: ntfs / nosecurity / x
Where k is the letter that the computer assigned to your flash drive, go to "My computer" and see what letter you have. We enter this command and press “Enter”.
Upon completion, a report will appear:
How to upload a large file to a USB flash drive? Convert flash drive to NTFS file system. updated: December 27, 2012 by the author: admin
In the simplest case, we take the following steps.
Step 1. Connect the USB flash drive to the USB connector. If you have a USB 2.0 flash drive, you can connect it to any USB connector. If the flash drive is USB 3.o, then it is better to connect it to the USB 3.o connector, since in this case, the data transfer rate will be higher.
Step 2. Right-click on the file that needs to be written to the USB flash drive and select the Send> Transcend (H) command. You can select several files at once by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard. You can also send a folder with files to a USB flash drive. We will send the "Documents" folder to the USB stick.
In this case, Transcend is the manufacturer of the flash drive, and the Latin "H" is the drive letter. You may have a different manufacturer and a different drive letter
After that, the process of copying files will begin.
Step 3. Now it remains to check that the folder with documents is written to the USB flash drive.
Why files are not copied to a USB flash drive
In the example above, we were able to write files without difficulty, but this is not always the case. Let's try to record on the same USB flash drive a file with video in HD format, the duration of which is about 8 hours. First, let's try to use the file manager Total Commander and ... we get an error message.
We try to copy as described above and fail again - the "File is too large" window appears.
Let's figure it out: the file size is 14.9 GB, and the volume of the flash drive is 32 GB, i.e. the volume of the media is sufficient for copying. However, once again we read the Windows message and pay attention to the words “too large for the target filesystem". In this case, we are talking about the file system of the flash drive. By default, flash drives are formatted (marked up) using the FAT32 file system, which can be easily seen by clicking on the shortcut of the flash drive and selecting the Properties command.
The FAT32 file system has a 4 GB file size limit. we cannot write the file because it is larger than 4 GB.
How to write large files to a USB flash drive
Since our file is quite large (about 8 GB), we need to think about how to write it to a flash drive. In addition to FAT32, we can use the NTFS file system, which allows writing large files, i.e. more than 4 GB. We need to reformat the USB flash drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
Step 1. Right-click on the flash drive icon and select the Format command.
In the context menu, select the item "Format"
Step 2. Select the NTFS file system and click the Start button.
Select the NTFS file system and click "Start"
Step 3. Formatting will destroy all data on the disk. Therefore, if the USB flash drive has the files you need, then discard them to your computer or laptop before formatting.
If you are interested in this topic, then you are probably faced with the following problem: you bought a USB flash drive, say with a memory capacity of 16 GB, and you want to record a movie on it, about 4.7 GB, but instead the system displays the following message: "Not enough disk space" ...
Let's figure out why this happens and what needs to be done to successfully write the file. After all, there is plenty of space on the flash drive!
Today, manufacturers produce flash drives with a fairly large amount of memory. And for some unknown reason, they install the FAT32 file system on them, but it does not support files larger than 4 GB. Therefore, if you want to write a file larger than 4 GB to a USB flash drive, you must have NTFS installed on the flash drive - it can work with files up to 16 TB in size.
Below we will look at various ways on how to format a USB flash drive to NTFS format. But first, pay attention to the following.
1. Choose a formatting device carefully so as not to format the wrong hard drive.
2. Copy all data from the USB flash drive to your computer hard drive to avoid data loss.
Formatting a flash drive
To do this, open "My Computer", select the USB flash drive and right-click on it. From the context menu, select the item "Format…".
In the next window, select the NTFS file system from the drop-down list. Press the button "Start".
If your operating system is Windows 7, then the NTFS value will be in the list. If Windows XP is installed, then it may not be available. But you can enable it by following these steps.
"Start" - "Settings" - "Control Panel"- "System" - tab "Equipment" - "Device Manager"... Double click on the item "Disk devices", select the USB flash drive from the list and double-click on it.
In the next window, go to the "Policy" tab and mark the item with a marker "Optimize for execution"... Click "OK" and close all windows. Remove the USB flash drive from your computer and insert it again.
Now the NTFS value will appear in the drop-down list. After formatting the flash drive, for the Windows XP operating system, on the "Policy" tab, put the marker on the item "Optimize for quick removal".
USB flash drive conversion
For this, a special file system conversion program "convert.exe" is used. Although converting a flash drive is performed without losing data on it, it will be better if you copy all the files to your computer's hard drive.
To perform the conversion, there must be free space on the flash drive, otherwise an error message will appear. Delete some files from the flash drive to free up the required amount of memory.
Now we press the "Start" button, enter the cmd command in the search bar and press "Enter".
In the command handler window, enter: convert g: / fs: ntfs / nosecurity / x and press "Enter".
Here: g: - USB flash drive letter; NTFS is the file system in which the flash drive will be formatted.
Since my flash drive was in NTFS format, the following message appeared.
Then the first way I formatted it in FAT32 and after re-executing the command, the flash drive was successfully converted to NTFS using the command line.
Close the command handler window.
Formatting program
You can also format a USB flash drive in NTFS format using a free program HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.
Details on how to do this are described in the article: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool. You can download it by clicking on the link indicated at the end of the article.
I think now you will be able to write a file larger than 4 GB to a USB flash drive. Just choose one of the methods and format the flash drive in NTFS format.
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