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"The File is Too Large for Destination File System"
Author: E M Reference Number: AA-02939 Views: 15776 Created: 2013-04-03 16:58 Last Updated: 2013-04-03 16:58 100 Rating/ 2 Voters

This error has been reported when one is copying a file from one drive, that being the DVD drive, to a portable hard drive as part of a process intended to make the BibleWorks installation files available to a computer that does not have a built-in DVD drive.  The external hard drive, which is to be connected to the target computer, is apparently unable to accommodate a file that resides on the installation DVD.

The issue is one of 'file systems' that are used to prepare a drive for data storage.  The file system that is used on most modern computers is known as NTFS.  It is still common, though, to find disks that have been formatted with the FAT or FAT32 file systems, which were developed earlier than NTFS.  It is these earlier file systems that are not able to handle larger files.  Even if the posted disk capacity sounds to be sufficient, it is the file system that determines the size of a file that can be copied to it.

When this circumstance arises, the problem may be resolved by changing the file system on the drive.  This is accomplished by performing a FORMAT action on that drive.   (This action destroys all data currently on that drive at the time, so if any data already on that drive is important, it should first be copied to another storage location.)
Take the following steps:

  1. Open the file management window in Windows known as "Windows Explorer" or simply as "Computer". 
  2. When the window opens, find the icon that represents the drive that is to be formatted.  It will often show as "Removable Disk" followed by its drive letter that was assigned by Windows. 
  3. Move the mouse over that icon and click once with the right mouse button.  A popup context menu will appear with a number of available command on it, one of which will be "Format..." 
  4. Click "Format..." to display the following window.


  5. Click the down arrow at the right end of the field for "File System" to display the drop-down menu.


  6. If "FAT32 (Default)" is selected, change that to "NTFS".
  7. Check the box for "Quick Format".
  8. Click the button labeled "Start".
  9. A popup warning will state that everything on the disk will be lost.  Assuming all valuable data on the drive has been backed up elsewhere, click the OK button to proceed.

When the drive has been so formatted, it will be enabled to receive the file that could not be copied to it previously.

Last Updated: ELM/April 3, 2012