Any particular reason why I can't move a 25 GB file to my portable hard drive?

[Lobsang]

@chorpler

There’s a command-line utility called CONVERT in Windows XP (and presumably Vista) that will allow you to convert the FAT32 drive into NTFS.

Awesome! I wish I’d known this sooner. I’ve done the old move off-reformat-move back on thing a couple of times because of fat32. I could have done with a command to just convert it.

[Lobsang]

@psychonaut

NTFS is a proprietary file system and should probably be avoided if possible; it tends not to be fully compatible with non-Microsoft software. There are many other file systems out there which are unencumbered by secrecy, patents, etc., and which support files larger than 4 GB. (Unfortunately, if you’re using Microsoft Windows, you’re probably locked into using either FAT* or NTFS.)

So… you’re saying move from a format which MOST people can use to a format which MOST people CAN’T use??

[Quartz]

There’s actually a 64 bit FAT implementation (called exFAT) supported in Vista SP1 and XP SP2+. For XP, you need this patch.

@Microsoft

The exFAT file system driver incorporates advanced structures for future scalability. The exFAT file system uses 64 bits to describe file size. This allows for applications that depend on very large files. The exFAT file system also allows for clusters as large as 32 MB, effectively enabling very large storage devices. Specifically, exFAT adds the following features:
Support for volumes that are larger than 32 GB, the theoretical maximum volume size for FAT32 in Windows XP
The theoretical maximum volume size is 64 ZB.
The recommended maximum volume size is 512 TB.
Support for files that are larger than 4 GB, the theoretical maximum file size for FAT32 in Windows XP
The theoretical maximum file size is 64 ZB.
The recommended maximum file size is 512 TB.

[TBG]

@psychonaut

This is most likely because Apple has licensed the technology from Microsoft. Microsoft has never published the full specifications for NTFS, so it’s difficult for any third party to provide support unless they’re willing to pay dearly for it.

Hell, even MS products don’t always support it. You can connect a USB HDD to a 360 and play/view your music/movies/photos from it, but only if it’s FAT, it won’t read NTFS formatted drives.

[psychonaut]

@Lobsang

So… you’re saying move from a format which MOST people can use to a format which MOST people CAN’T use??

No, I’m saying that people should avoid using a proprietary format where there is a non-proprietary alternative with comparable functionality. If you need to use Microsoft Windows, then I guess you’re stuck with NTFS, since there is no comparable non-proprietary alternative on that platform. If you don’t need to use Microsoft Windows, then you have other options.

[Nanoda]

@TBG

Hell, even MS products don’t always support it. You can connect a USB HDD to a 360 and play/view your music/movies/photos from it, but only if it’s FAT, it won’t read NTFS formatted drives.

That’s strange. Good to know though.

@Duckster

Use TeraCopy to copy your files. It’s much faster than Windows’ native copying.

I’d recommend against TeraCopy. It has some nifty features (specifically not stopping the whole damn copy every time something out of the ordinary happens), but it has a few serious bugs that can result in data loss.