External HD full, but its not!

[Shamrock]

I have a seagate 160gb external drive. I'm trying to move some large files across to save space on my other hdd's, but as I do it says it's full, despite having 80gb free.

What would cause this?

 

[katana6434]

What are the files sizes you are trying to copy, and what is the file system on the external drive.

If it is FAT32, it has a maximum limit of 4GB for the file size, whereas NTFS has a much biggerlimit, can't remeber of the top of my head though.

 

[Shamrock]

Thanks, that must be why. It's FAT32 and the files are above 4gb.

I can't really reformat it as NTFS because I have nowhere to store the files in the meantime!

 

[Cal_G]

Is it not possible to convert it while leaving the data intact?

 

[rpstewart]

You can convert from FAT32 to NTFS on the fly using the cunningly named convert.exe utility included with Windows.

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
Open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format.

Notes

To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

 

[Shamrock]

Sorted

Thanks guys.