Sometimes it is not possible to copy a file to a USB flash drive, even if there are plenty of free space. For example, if you try to write to an object that is larger than 4 GB, Windows user may see the message "File ... is too large for the target file system».
macOS in such cases displays the error "Unable to copy object ... because it is too large for the format of this volume."
This happens if the drive's current file system (organization type) is FAT32 (or MS-DOS), which does not support writing files larger than 4 GB. To remove this limitation by changing its file system.
Formatting deletes all information from the drive. Be sure to back up important data.
If you are on Windows, open File Explorer. Click right click mouse over the flash drive and select "Format" in 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 to be fully compatible with both Windows and macOS.
Check the option "Quick (cleaning the table of contents)", click "Start" and wait for the formatting to complete.
If you are using macOS, launch Disk Utility: Finder → Programs → Utilities → " disk utility". Highlight the drive in the sidebar and click on the "Erase" button at the top. In the next window, select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" 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 for formatting to complete.
After these manipulations, you can record files of any size, if there is enough free space on the drive for them.
Jun 21 2018
The other day my parents called me, they were faced with the problem of moving the “Move Up” video file from a computer to a USB flash drive, for comfortable viewing of the movie on big TV. There was a problem copying the video, the file is too large for the destination file system.
The volume of the movie was about 5 gigabytes, the portable storage medium was 8 gigabytes, everything seems to be fine, but the problem turned out to be in the file usb system carrier. The USB was formatted in the FAT32 file system. I suggested a simple solution, format the USB flash drive to the NTFS file system. After they did this, the movie was successfully copied to USB and enjoyed on the TV.
Solving the problem the file is too large
- Format device
- File system conversion
- Splitting a file with the WinRAR archiver
- 7-zip is our helper
In the Fat32 file system, you can work with files up to 4 gigabytes in size.
On the NTFS file system maximum size file is about 16 terabytes.
Video instruction of today's article
Formatting the device
Go to devices and disks, select desired device, click on it with the right mouse button and then format.
In the file system tab, change FAT32 to NTFS, leave a checkmark for quick (cleaning the table of contents) formatting and click start.
A warning appears. Attention! Formatting will destroy all information on this drive. Select OK to start formatting, or Cancel not to.
After completion, the corresponding notification formatting the device is completed will appear.
Converting the file system
The second method is a little more complicated, but will save all the information on your device. Open the command prompt or Windows PowerShell - press two buttons on the keyboard "Win + R".
In the run window, type the command "convert Z: / FS: NTFS", without quotes, where "Z" needs to be changed to the letter of your device.
A window appears with a command line and disk information. If the volume is used in this moment, a notification about this will appear and it is proposed to disconnect the disk. Press "Y (yes)" to continue.
Wait for the conversion to complete and use the flash drive.
Cutting a file with winrar
The third way is to divide the desired fragment into several parts and transfer it in parts.
I suggest using the popular Winrar program. You can find and download it yourself via the Internet, or use my links below. First on the official website, free period of 40 days, you can purchase a license for 25 dollars. The second link to a regular archiver with a key. The rarreg.key file from the installation archive must be copied to the folder with the program. My path is "C:\Program Files\WinRAR".
We find desired file, right-click on it, in the pop-up menu select add to archive, or archive with the file name.
The archiving options open, go to the general tab. At the bottom left, divide into volumes in size, specify MB or GB (as you prefer) and divide approximately in half. If the file is large, then divide by 3 - 3.5 gigabytes.
The compression process begins, a 5.5 gigabyte video file is compressed in about 6 minutes.
Upon completion, we have two archives that can be transferred one by one or together to other disks or computers.
After the transfer, extract the archives with the necessary information.
7-zip to help us
The last method is the 7-zip archiver, an alternative to winrar. This utility is free, you can find it on the official website.
We also select the desired file, right-click, go to 7-zip, add to the archive.
In the settings, open the block size tab, set 1 gigabyte, split into 1000M volumes and click OK.
Compression speed 20 Mb/s, time about 5 minutes.
Upon completion, 6 archives appear that can be copied to portable media and extracted to the desired location.
To extract, right-click on the first archive, go to 7-zip, extract or extract here.
From six archives, one file is assembled in less than a minute.
Summing up
Today we have solved the problem the file is too large for the final file system in four ways: formatting, converting, winrar and 7-zip archivers.
I hope you have solved the problem with the file too large to move, share your thoughts in the comments below this article, or use the form with me.
Also, you can ask any questions related to computer topics on the page.
If the above information turned out to be useful to you, then I recommend subscribing to my blog updates to always be aware of fresh and relevant information on setting up your computer.
When performing various operations with disks, primarily with flash drives, users often encounter an operating system alert - "The file is too large for the destination file system." We will receive such an alert when working with files larger than 4 Gigabytes. What is the matter and how to cope with this problem? Indeed, now often files (primarily films in high resolution) weigh more than 4 gigabytes?
The thing is that, often buying a USB flash drive, we do not even suspect that the disk space on it is marked in the FAT32 file system, and, in turn, the FAT32 system cannot work with files larger than 4 Gigabytes. The same sometimes happens when working with partitions on hard drives - perhaps we ourselves, unaware of the limitations of certain file systems, formatted them in FAT32. The older FAT16 (or simply FAT) file system, in turn, does not work with files larger than 2 GB.
In order to safely continue working with large files, you need to format the media in the file system that would allow you to work with files of 4 or more gigabytes. There are now two such main systems at the disposal of the user - these are NTFS and exFAT. The NTFS file system allows you to safely work with files, the size of which can reach 16 Terabytes, and this is enough for most modern users. Relatively new system exFAT can handle files up to 16 exabytes in size.
The easiest way for us will be to format either our media - a flash drive, or a logical drive in the NTFS file system, after which the problem large files for the final file system will not bother us anymore. You can do this with the following steps:
The simplest is to format the media from the Explorer menu. To do this, we must go to root folder in Explorer, where we will see all the media connected to the computer. By connecting external media in advance (for example, a USB flash drive or an external HDD), we see in Explorer and him.
Then right-click on the disk that refuses to work with large files and in the drop-down menu we find the "Format" section. Do not forget that formatting will destroy all data on the disk and first save everything you need to another medium.
The formatting window appears. In the drop-down section "file system" select NTFS. The cluster size in the next section can be set to 4096 bytes or "standard cluster size".
Then we press the "Start" button and wait for the result.
Formatting in the operating system from the Disk Management section
You can also find the required drive through Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Storage Devices - Disk Management. We select the medium we need there and, through the right mouse button, select the Format line. We make the same choice as in the first method, and press the OK button.
Formatting media using the command line
It is possible to format the media from the command line, for example, using the built-in Windows Utilities Diskpart or the format command loop.
In the command line window that appears, enter: format / fs: NTFS H: / q - where:
- format – formatting task;
- fs:NTFS - description of the file system we choose;
- H: - the drive we need;
- /q - this part of the command denotes a quick format for complete removal data.
Or by calling the utility for working with drives Diskpart. At the command line, we type the commands:
diskpart; disk selection with the list disk and select disk commands; With the active command, we make the disk active, and then select the file system we need by entering the format fs=ntfs command. Using the assign command, we assign a letter to the media, after which a window automatically appears with the media already formatted in the file system we need.
File system conversion without data loss
The media can also be converted from the FAT32 file system to NTFS without data loss. To do this, you need to use the command line. In order to call the command line, launch the Start menu and enter in the search bar cmd command.
Then, in the command line, type the command: convert H: / FS: NTFS - where H is the letter of the disk, disk partition or flash drive selected for converting. Press Enter.
As we can see, getting rid of the problem when the operating system notifies us that “the file is too large for the target file system” is solved quite simply. The question is in which file system this or that medium is marked. We change the file system and get rid of the problem, including by converting without losing data on the media.
Let's say you have a USB flash drive that you want to transfer a movie to. good quality, the size of which, let's say, is 5 GB. However, you can't transfer the movie because you get a message like "The file is too large for the target file system" even before you start copying. And this is despite the fact that the volume of a flash card can be 8, 16, 64 or more GB. What is the problem? There is nothing secret here, everything is much simpler than you might think. But the fact is that in the FAT32 file system, the maximum size of the transferred file is only 4 GB or 4,294,967,295 bytes. Therefore, if your file is more than 4 GB and be on a flash drive or external drive at least 50 GB of free space, it’s not so easy to transfer it and you will always see an error in the title of the topic. The problem is also that the vast majority of current flash drives and external hard drives formatted in the FAT32 file system. The solution is quite simple - use the NTFS file system. It has replaced the FAT file system. NTFS maintains a metadata system and uses specialized data structures to store information about files to improve performance, reliability, and usability disk space. It has built-in capabilities to restrict access to data for different users and user groups, assign quotas, etc. In general, this is a much more modern file system that does not have serious file size restrictions. There are two possible options solutions: Converting a USB flash drive to a new file system. Format USB flash drive to NTFS file system. What is the difference between these two methods, you will find out right now. Formatting a flash drive in NTFS I recommend this option as it is simpler and even more convenient for most users. You will need the flash drive itself. Connect it to your computer. Now very important point- if there are important files on the card, you will need to copy them to your computer or other storage medium, since we will format the USB flash drive. You will then place them back on the map. If there are no files, then immediately proceed to the process. Go to "Computer", find the desired removable drive and right-click on it. A menu will open, select "Format...". Next, select the file system (NTFS). You should not touch other settings. Click "Start". After that, the system will ask you whether to continue the procedure, you agree. Formatting doesn't take long. For example, an 8 GB flash drive is formatted in a dozen or two seconds. After the process is completed, you can transfer your files back without fear of getting the “File is too large for the destination file system” error again. Converting a flash drive to NTFS For those who do not want to transfer files from a flash drive to a computer, there is another way that allows you to convert a card from the FAT32 file system to NTFS. This method may seem a bit more complicated to some. In addition, for the sake of saving information, I still recommend transferring files from a USB flash drive to another medium in order to avoid deleting files (you never know what can happen). So, insert the USB flash drive into the USB port, then open the command prompt as administrator, after which we enter the following text: convert G: / FS: NTFS and press the Enter key. IMPORTANT! In my case, G is the letter of the flash drive, you will need to replace it with another letter that marks the card. We are waiting for the end of the process and we can transfer files to a USB flash drive.
Many users sooner or later encounter a situation where, when copying a large enough file to a USB flash drive, the system displays a message about the impossibility of such an operation.
Often the first solution is to check the free space on the flash drive and delete other files. But in fact, such an error has nothing to do with volume. USB flash drives(it can be either 8 or 32 or more GB in size) and its workload. In this article, we will analyze in detail what is the cause of this problem and how it can be solved.
By default, most USB flash drives have the so-called FAT32 file system. It is productive and fast in terms of working with files, but has one drawback - the system does not support writing files larger than 4 gigabytes. That is, you can copy as many different files to it as you like (within the size of the flash drive), but the maximum size of each of them should not exceed 4 GB.
Not only a flash drive, but also a partition hard drive may be formatted in the FAT32 file system. In this case, we will also encounter a Windows system message about the inadmissibility of writing such a file.
Comparison table FAT and NTFS.
What if the file size is very large?
If the recorded file consists of several small ones, you can simply divide it into parts and record separately. But most often we need to upload an entire file larger than 4 GB, for example, ISO image with a game or a 3D movie. In this case, you will need to format the flash drive in another file system - NTFS.
Formatting is a simple process that even a beginner can handle.
Step 1. We transfer all important files from a flash drive to another medium, since after formatting everything will be deleted.
Step 2 We go in the explorer to the "My Computer" tab and right-click on the display of the flash drive, then select the "Format" item.
Step 3 The specified formatting method is fast (with clearing the table of contents) and the file system we need (in this case, NTFS).
Step 4 Click "Start" and wait for the formatting process to finish (as a rule, it lasts no more than a couple of minutes).
Ready! Now the flash drive is suitable for writing files of any size.
On a note! You can check which one is on your flash drive or disk in the "Properties" section.
To select this option:
How to write a large file and not lose all data
Since all information on a flash drive or disk is deleted during formatting, this option is not suitable for everyone. For example, if the disk contains operating system or a large number of files that are not very convenient to temporarily transfer to another medium. There is another way that will help you transfer a large file to a USB flash drive without formatting data - converting from FAT32 to NTFS.
Step 1. Launching " command line". To do this, select "Start", in the line that appears, type the command "cmd", press the "Enter" button.
Step 2 In the window that appears, enter or copy the following text: "convert X: / fs: ntfs". We press the "Enter" button.
On a note!"X" here is the letter of the flash drive or the selected partition, you may have a different letter, make no mistake!
Step 3 We are waiting for the conversion of the FAT32 file system to the NTFS system (a message will appear stating that the conversion is completed).
Video - File is too large for destination file system
Alternative options for storing large files
Today, in order to store large files, it is not necessary to use flash drives and deal with or convert the file system. cloud services solve the problem of storing and transferring large files, allowing you to quickly and easily access them via the Internet, regardless of the power of your computer.
Cloud technologies help to bypass such unpleasant situations as the loss of important files due to an unexpected breakdown of a disk or flash drive.
Table of the most famous cloud services.
| cloud services | Image | Service features |
|---|---|---|
 | Up to 10 GB - free (upgradable to 50 GB). Integrated with Yandex mail and other services. High speed synchronization, files are scanned by DrWeb anti-virus | |
 | Up to 5 GB for free. Built in standard conductor Windows 10, so there is no need for additional installation. Easy to share documents Microsoft office 365 | |
 | It is possible to store up to 15 GB for free. Integration with mail and office suite Google Docs | |
 | 2 GB is free, but can be upgraded to 16 GB. It is possible to download applications for smartphones or desktop applications and simply move files to the Dropbox folder | |
| Mega |  | 50 GB - free. Supports end-to-end encryption of stored content. There are multi-upload and download the entire folder |
| Cloud Mail.Ru |  | You can store 100 GB for free. High sync speed. There is a utility for creating and storing screenshots, for creating and editing documents. Integration with Mail.ru mail |
Video - How to use Yandex.Disk and why?