Updated on January 10th, 2018
This post introduces causes and solutions to error “File is too large for the destination file system”. This file size too large error may occur when you copy a very large file to a USB disk even though the disk has enough free space. If you are confused by this error, you can follow methods in this guide to fix it.
As Windows user you will definitely encounter an error message while copying any single large file (exceed 4GB) to removable storage device like SD card, pen drive, USB flash drive, external hard drive, etc. The error appears on “File Too Large” message box saying “The file <file name> is too large for the destination file system.” with detailed information about the file being transferred.
Here is one of the questions asked on forum:
“Hey All! I was trying to move a few movies and videos from my laptop to my WD Passport (500GB). The biggest file is 4.7GB and the total size of them is about 20GB and the external drive still has 180GB free space. I thought there won’t be problem storing these files. But it still says file too large for USB. I don’t understand why it is too big. Don’t know what to do and I’m kind of need to get this done. Please!”
If you run into such problem, you should check the file system for the target disk which must have been formatted to FAT32 file system. This file system type has a built-in limitation on per file size it can access. Although the total file size you can copy to a FAT32 partition can be 2TB at most, per file size shouldn’t be larger than 4GB.
FAT32 was introduced by Microsoft during the days of Windows 95 when such large files were unthinkable or designers believed it would be replaced by more advanced file system. How to eliminate the limitation and copy 4GB files? You need to convert file system from FAT32 to NTFS or exFAT. Both NTFS and exFAT are able to copy a file larger than 4GB.
Both NTFS and exFAT are robust file system, but which one is better depends on the storage device you use. NTFS (New Technology File System) is mainly used on hard drive and external hard drive. It is compatible with all Windows versions from Windows NT to Windows 10, and it provides features not supported by FAT32 such as file security, encryption, compress, etc. NTFS is also read-supported by Mac OX. exFAT has good compatibility on many flash drives or memory cards which might be used under Android phones, tablets, digital cameras. Besides, it is read and write supported by recent versions of Mac OS. If you want to use your external disk on both Windows and Mac platform, you can format it into exFAT.
Method 1: Compress file
This is an easy but limited method to circumvent this 4GB file limitation. You can use compression software installed on your computer to compress the file into a smaller one. If file becomes smaller than 4 GB after compression, then problem solved. Compressed files occupy less disk space and can be moved more quickly.
Method 2: Format disk into exFAT or NTFS file system
Important:
Formatting deletes all data from the partition, if it contains important data, you should back up files before trying following steps.
If USB drive loses data, you can use free data recovery software to do USB drive recovery and get back deleted or lost files easily.
- Attach the USB disk to computer and wait for system to recognize it and assign a drive
- Double Computer icon to open it and location drive letter for the USB disk that you want to change file system format.
- Before formatting, you need to open this drive and check whether there are important files. If this disk can’t be opened and reports errors such as “Please insert a disk into removable disk”, you should use recovery software to retrieve data.
- Right click the USB drive and select “Format” from the menu.
- Select NTFS or exFAT from the drop-down list of the File system section. The default file system might be FAT32, thus you should set it manually. Apart from that, the “Quick Format” option should be select to ensure the formatting can be completed in shortest time. If you can’t find needed file system type from the drop-down list, you can use PartitionGuru to do the formatting job.
- Click Start button and you’ll get a message box telling formatting will erase all data on this disk. If you have backed up important data, click OK button and formatting will be done in seconds.
Method 3: Convert FAT32 to NTFS file system with Command Prompt
This method can convert FAT to NTFS without deleting existing file, but it is still recommended to create a backup of your files before starting the conversion.
- Insert USB drive to computer and open Windows Explorer to see its drive letter which is G in this example.
- Click Start button and type in cmd in the searching box and hit Enter.
- In Command Prompt type in chkdsk G: /f : and hit enter. Here G is the drive letter of the USB drive you want to convert. It check error for the drive.
- Enter convert G: /FS:NTFS and press Enter. Make sure you are using correct drive letter, if not replace “G” for the letter of the drive to be converted.
- The process may take a while, just let it run and finish. When conversion completes, check whether file system is correctly converted and file in order.
This post will help you if you cannot copy large files over 4GB to USB flash drive or SD card, and you receive a message – File Too Large, The file is too large for the destination file system message when copying a large file.
Recently, while copying a 4.8GB zipped file from my Windows 10 PC to a new 8GB USB drive I received a File Too Large error message. If you receive such a message, even when you know that there is enogh space available for the file, here is what you need to do to successfully copy the file.
The chances are high that the USB drive has been FAT32 formatted. Now this file system has a built-in limitation on the size of the individual file that it may contain. It is 4GB. So although collectively it may have files of even 1 TB, individually it cannot be more than 4GB. So you will have to change the file system to NTFS.
File Too Large for destination file system
Connect the USB and open File Explorer. Now, right-click on the USB Drive letter and select Format. When the dialog box opens up from the drop down menu for the File system, select NTFS instead of FAT32.
Select Quick Format and hit the Start button.
Alternatively, you could open an elevated Command Prompt and execute the following command:
Where X is the Drive letter. For instance in my case it is G so the command would be:
Once the process is completed try copying now.
I am sure that you will be able to copy the file.
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This post will help you if you cannot copy large files over 4GB to USB flash drive or SD card, and you receive a message – File Too Large, The file is too large for the destination file system message when copying a large file.
Recently, while copying a 4.8GB zipped file from my Windows 10 PC to a new 8GB USB drive I received a File Too Large error message. If you receive such a message, even when you know that there is enogh space available for the file, here is what you need to do to successfully copy the file.
The chances are high that the USB drive has been FAT32 formatted. Now this file system has a built-in limitation on the size of the individual file that it may contain. It is 4GB. So although collectively it may have files of even 1 TB, individually it cannot be more than 4GB. So you will have to change the file system to NTFS.
File Too Large for destination file system
Connect the USB and open File Explorer. Now, right-click on the USB Drive letter and select Format. When the dialog box opens up from the drop down menu for the File system, select NTFS instead of FAT32.
Select Quick Format and hit the Start button.
Alternatively, you could open an elevated Command Prompt and execute the following command:
Where X is the Drive letter. For instance in my case it is G so the command would be:
Once the process is completed try copying now.
I am sure that you will be able to copy the file.
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![Ntfs Ntfs](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123706261/259042847.jpg)
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This past Sunday, while transferring a couple of files from my friend’s PC to my USB flash drive, I got an error saying that The file Ubuntu.vdi is too large for the destination file system. My USB flash drive’s capacity is 16GB (actual capacity is 14.9 GB) and the size of the file in question was just 6.87GB.
When I opened up USB drive’s properties to check the available free disk space, I realized that the USB drive was formatted in FAT32 file system and this was the reason for the error.
For those who aren’t aware, you can’t transfer a file larger than 4GB to a drive formatted in FAT32 file system, even if the actual capacity of your drive is more than 4GB. When you try to a transfer a file larger than 4GB in size, Windows shows The file ‘file name’ is too large for the destination file system error.
In simple words, if you have a file named XYZ of size 5GB and want to transfer the file to a drive formatted in FAT32 file system, you need to either split the selected file into two using a file compression software, or format the drive in NTFS file system to be able to transfer the file.
If you’re not sure how to convert a drive from FAT to NTFS file system, you can do so by following the instructions mentioned in one of the two methods.
Method 1:
Step 1: Backup all important files from your USB drive as all data on the drive will be erased while converting the file system.
Step 2: Open up Computer (This PC in Windows 8.1), right-click on the USB drive that you wish to convert to NTFS, and then click Properties.
Step 3: In the Properties dialog box, expand the File system drop-menu, select NTFS as your file system, and then click Start button to begin formatting the drive in NTFS. Once done, you’ll see Format complete message on the screen.
Click OK button when you see the confirmation dialog box.
Method 2: Formatting the drive in NTFS via Command Prompt.
(Use this method is the above mentioned method fails to work)
Step 1: Open Command Prompt as administrator. If you’re on Windows 7, open Start menu, type CMD, and then simultaneously press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys to run Command Prompt as administrator.
And if you’re on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, switch to the Start screen, type Command Prompt, and then simultaneously press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys to open elevated Command Prompt. We suggest you go through our 4 ways to open Command Prompt as administrator in Windows 8.1 guide for detailed instructions.
Step 2: Once the elevated Command Prompt is launched, type the following command and press enter key.
convert X: /fs:ntfs /nosecurity
In the above command, replace “X” with the drive letter of your USB drive.
Once done, you’ll see Conversion complete message. Close the Command Prompt. That’s it!
How to format external hard drive in FAT32 file system guide might also interest you.
Yesterday, while copying some large files to an external hard drive, I was promptly issued this message by Windows:
![Too Large For Destination File System Too Large For Destination File System](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123706261/782386848.png)
So I wondered to myself what could possibly cause this issue. My external hard drive had tons of free space, so why would I not be able to copy this file over?
Well, the reason for this problem is because my file was 4.3 GB in size and my external hard drive was formatted in FAT32 format. The max file size for FAT32 is 4GB. The max file size for FAT16 is only 2GB!
So how do you fix this problem? Well there are two ways you can go about it. You can either split the file into smaller pieces and then copy it to your external hard drive or you can convert the file system to NTFS, where there is no limit on file sizes.
You can read my previous posts on using File Splitter or HJ-Split to split large files into smaller ones.
If you want to go with the second method, read my post on how to convert a hard drive from FAT to NTFS without losing any data.
Now you should be able to copy your large files by either splitting them or converting the hard drive to NTFS! If you have a USB drive, read my post on how to format a USB drive in NTFS format.
If you can’t split the file for whatever reason and you don’t want to convert the file system on the drive to NTFS, the only other possible solution is to try and compress the file. Windows 7 and Windows 10 both have built in compression tools, but you can also try third-party tools like 7-Zip, etc.
Too Large For Destination File System
Check out my article that compares different compressions programs to see if you can get your file shrunk down to a small enough size. Enjoy!