165Gb free space on USB HDD, can't add 6GB of data to it

googler

I have a USB-powered external HDD which has been used with at least two other PCs, and when first plugged into my PC, had no visible data on it.

My Computer tells me it has a total capacity of 232Gb. I added about 61Gb of data to it in stages, and today tried to add another 6.6Gb of data. I got a dialogue box saying there was insufficient disc space to add it.

I went to the Recycle Bin, cleared it, and tried again with same result. From another online forum, I got advice to display hidden files and not hide windows files, so followed that, and currently, at the root level of the drive, I have

Folder A - size 61 Gb
Folder B - part of 6.6Gb I'm trying to add - size 0 bytes - folders only
Recycle Bin - size 7.17Gb
Recycler - size 96Kb
System Volume Information - size 47.5Mb

The last three became visible after displaying system files. By my math, that makes a total data size used of around 68-69Gb; on a disk that should have 232Gb, so in theory there's lots of free space.

Any suggestions?

Win XP SP2

almillar

Right click on the drive in My Computer and click Properties - I'll bet the File System is FAT32. FAT32 can only deal with files up to 4GB in size, and you're getting a rubbish error message that doesn't really mean much. FAT32 has good compatibility with lots of different OSs (Windows/Mac/Linux) but is outdated these days. If you're only using Windows (not 95/98/Me or earlier) then format the USB drive as NTFS, which can deal with files larger than 4GB.

giraffe69

And also go to XP service pack 3. Won't solve the problem but it will make your computer more secure.

googler

It's a FAT32.

Thanks for that. Single file of 6Gb in the new data must be the culprit.

paddyrg

googler wrote: »

It's a FAT32.

Thanks for that. Single file of 6Gb in the new data must be the culprit.

FAT32 vs 6GB file - it is absolutely the culprit. Use NTFS - you will need to copy everything you want to keep off that drive first, mind, then format it as NTFS (it will take a while) then copy it back.

MoneySavingUser

it is possible to do fat32 to ntfs without data loss (but not the other way round) see: http://www.ntfs.com/quest3.htm

however you should backup anyway incase some problem was to arise

MeanSnark

You don't need to format the drive. Just open a command prompt and type in

convert <drive>: /fs:ntfs

where <drive> is your drive letter for your USB drive.

It'll convert in about 15 seconds and you'll be able to copy your file.

Of course, you might want to back up your data as a precaution but I've done this on several drive and it's never failed yet.

HappyChappy84

IS NTFS compatible with Mac?

almillar

HappyChappy - not really I don't think officially. Depends too on which version of OSX you have but I think Lion, Snow Leopard and Leopard (10.7,6 and 5) at least can READ an NTFS partition. There's a utility that lets you read/write NTFS partitions, whose name escapes me, but I find that the best way to share files between Mac and PC is on a network share.

paddyrg

HappyChappy84 wrote: »

IS NTFS compatible with Mac?

Macs will not write to an NTFS hard drive. PC's will not read an HFS+ hard drive. This is mostly down to people being idiots and not licensing technology to one another, believing 'theirs' to be 'best'. It is flaming ridiculous in this day and age. You can get extra software and drivers to do it, but really, you shouldn't have to - it just proves that it is possible and purely political though.

This is why people still use FAT32, even though it is inefficient and ancient - both PC's and Macs can read and write to it.