Do not copy a flash drive to a large file. How to transfer a large file to a flash drive? Converting a flash drive to the NTFS file system. Formatting to NTFS
The situation when you urgently need to copy something to a flash drive, but as luck would have it, the computer freezes or gives an error, is probably familiar to many users. They spend a lot of time in vain searches for a solution to the problem, but they leave it unresolved, attributing everything to a drive malfunction or a problem with the computer. But in most cases this is not the case at all.
There may be several reasons why a file cannot be copied to a flash drive. Accordingly, there are several ways to solve this problem. Let's look at them in more detail.
Reason 1: Lack of free space on the flash drive
To people who are familiar with the principles of storing information on a computer at least slightly above the basic level, this situation may seem too elementary or even ridiculous to be described in the article. But nevertheless, there are a huge number of users who are just starting to learn the basics of working with files, so even such a simple problem can confuse them. The information below is intended for them.
If you try to copy files to a flash drive that does not have enough free space, the system will display the following message: 
This message indicates the cause of the error as informatively as possible, so the user can only free up space on the flash drive so that the information he needs fits on it in full.
There is also a situation when the size of the drive is smaller than the amount of information that is planned to be copied to it. You can check this by opening Explorer in Datasheet view. The sizes of all partitions will be indicated there, indicating their total volume and remaining free space. 
If the size of the removable media is insufficient, you should use another flash drive.
Reason 2: File size does not match file system capabilities
Not everyone has knowledge about file systems and their differences. Therefore, many users are perplexed: the flash drive has the necessary free space, but when copying, the system gives an error: 
This error occurs only in cases when an attempt is made to copy a file whose size exceeds 4 GB to a flash drive. This is explained by the fact that the drive is formatted in the FAT32 file system. This file system was used in older versions of Windows, and flash drives are formatted in it for greater compatibility with various devices. However, the maximum file size that it can store is 4 GB.
You can check which file system is used on your flash drive from Explorer. It's very easy to do this:
To solve the problem, the flash drive must be formatted in the NTFS file system. This is done like this:
Once the flash drive is formatted, you can safely copy large files to it.
Reason 3: Problems with the integrity of the file system of the flash drive
Often the reason that a file refuses to be copied to removable media is accumulated errors in its file system. The reason for their occurrence is most often premature removal of the drive from the computer, power outages, or simply prolonged use without formatting.
This problem can be solved using systemic means. To do this you need:
If the reason for the copying failure was due to file system errors, then after checking the problem will go away.
In cases where the flash drive does not contain any information valuable to the user, you can simply format it.
Reason 4: The media is write-protected
This problem often occurs among owners of laptops or standard PCs that have card readers for reading from SD or MicroSD drives. Flash drives of this type, as well as some models of USB drives, have the ability to physically block writing to them using a special switch on the case. The ability to write to removable media can also be blocked in Windows settings, regardless of whether there is physical protection or not. In any case, when trying to copy files to a flash drive, the user will see the following message from the system: 
To solve this problem, you need to move the switch lever on the flash drive case or change the Windows settings. This can be done using system tools or using special programs.
If the methods described above for solving problems did not help and it is still impossible to copy files to a flash drive, the problem may be a malfunction of the media itself. In this case, it would be most advisable to contact a service center, where specialists using special programs will be able to restore the media.
If no files are copied to the flash drive, the problem with the drive appears to be at the hardware level. Especially if copying cannot be done on any computer - otherwise, a ban on transferring files may be set by the system administrator in the Windows settings of the PC with which the flash drive does not work.
Hardware problems with a flash drive are resolved in a service center, and it is usually cheaper to purchase a new flash-disk or flash drive. However, for starters, you can try to format the flash drive using standard OS tools or a special program.
Lack of space on flash drive
If you can’t copy only one file to the flash drive, that’s the problem. First, you should make sure that there is enough free space on the flash drive to transfer this file.
The amount of unallocated space and file size can be viewed in the “Properties” section of the flash drive and file context menus, respectively.
This menu opens when you right-click on the flash drive and file icon.
File system problems
Secondly, if the file size is more than 4 GB, and there is enough free space on the flash drive, the problem lies in the file system.
Most flash drives are formatted by default in the FAT32 system (FAT16 is occasionally found), and it has a maximum file size limit of just 4 GB (read more about how to write files larger than 4 GB).
To bypass it, you should reformat the flash drive in the NTFS system.
This is done through the context menu of the flash drive: in it you need to select the “Format” item, and in the window that opens, set the file system value to “NTFS”. Read more about formatting a flash drive into the NTFS file format in the following articles:
Before formatting, all necessary files should be transferred to another storage medium. An NTFS formatted flash drive is ready to work with large files.
Hello dear visitors. Yesterday they asked me a question: what should I do? I can’t transfer a large file to a flash drive? The system says that there is not enough disk space, but there is enough space on the flash drive. It was necessary to copy a movie of about 9 GB in size to a 16 GB flash drive. If you think logically, then everything should fit, but the system refused to put such a large file on a flash drive and that’s it.
I knew what was going on, and while I was explaining what needed to be done, a bright thought appeared in my head that I should write about this on a blog, so I’m actually writing it :). Let's first explain why large files, or to be precise, files larger than 4 GB do not want to be written to the flash drive and a message appears that there is not enough disk space.
The fact is that when you buy a flash drive, it is already formatted in the file system FAT32, and the file system is FAT32 does not support files larger than 4 GB. Here's the thing, it's very simple. We need to change the file system of the flash drive from FAT32 to NTFS. Because the NTFS file system supports, if I'm not mistaken, files up to 16 GB.
This question is becoming more and more relevant every day, because the size of memory on flash drives is growing and they are becoming cheaper every day. You can already buy a 16 GB flash drive for the same money that a year ago you could only buy a 4 GB one.
We just need to change the file system of our flash drive from FAT32 to NTFS. I will now write two ways in which you can do this.
Format the flash drive to the NTFS file system
I have already written about how. But I think it wouldn’t hurt to repeat it again and pay special attention to the fact that we are formatting it into an NTFS system.
Attention! Formatting a flash drive will destroy all information on it. Make sure that your flash drive does not contain the files you need. If there are, then copy them to your computer.
We connect the flash drive to the computer, wait until the computer recognizes it, go to “My computer” and right-click on our flash drive, select "Format".
A window will open in which we need to select the NTFS file system, select and click “Start”. We agree to the system warning.
After the formatting process is completed, you will receive a blank flash drive with the NTFS file system, onto which you can copy large files.
Converting a flash drive to NTFS for writing large files
The second method is to simply convert the flash drive to NTFS, this method essentially differs from the first, only in that the files you have on the flash drive will not be lost. But I still advise you not to risk it and copy the necessary files to your computer.
Our flash drive is connected and recognized by the computer. We go to “Start”, “All programs”, “Standard” and select “Run”. Or just press Win+R. A window will open in which we write the command cmd and click “Ok”.
A window will open in which we need to enter a command to convert the flash drive to NTFS:
convert k : /fs:ntfs /nosecurity /x
Where k is the letter that the computer assigned to your flash drive, go to “My computer” and see what letter you have. Enter this command and press “Enter”.
Once completed, a report will appear:
How to transfer a large file to a flash drive? Converting a flash drive to the NTFS file system. updated: December 27, 2012 by: admin
When writing some files to an external hard drive (flash drive, memory card), an error suddenly appears. But everything is correct, the disk opens in Explorer, other files are copied and deleted, but one file is not written even if you crack it! Even formatting doesn't help.
Look at the file size, I'm sure it will be more than 4GB. And if such a file is not copied to an external drive, then it needs to be reformatted, but to the NTFS file system.
Formatting to NTFS
Right-click on the disk and select “Format…”
IMPORTANT: The file system should be NTFS, that's the whole point. Leave the “Quick (cleaning table of contents)” checkbox. "Volume label" - any. Click “Start” and wait for the process to complete.
WHEN FORMATING ALL DATA ON THIS DISK WILL BE DESTROYED! So if there are any, copy them to another location first.
Now you can record any files. The whole point was that your USB drive was formatted in the FAT32 system, where the maximum size of one file is only 4GB. Please note that not all external devices understand the NTFS format.
Greetings, dear users! In my previous articles, I have already written articles on the topic of USB storage media, namely, what needs to be done if, or another example, and important data for us remains on it, what to do in such a situation in order to recover data from a flash drive .
If you really don’t know what to do in such situations, then I recommend that you read these articles. Since I started today’s article by talking about flash media, today we will learn another useful point directly related to the flash drives themselves.
Imagine that you decided to write an image of some program or toy onto your flash drive (by the way, I already wrote an article about what an image is, you can read more). Let's imagine that the volume of your flash drive is 16 GB, and your flash drive is completely empty and formatted. In turn, the volume of the recorded image is about 6 GB. At the moment when you try to write an image to a USB drive, a notification of the following nature appears: “Not enough disk space”. Agree that the appearance of a notification of this kind puts you in a kind of dead end situation, because the flash drive itself is completely empty and has 16 GB of free space.
And if we simply copy a file whose size is less than 4 GB to a USB drive, then in this case the file itself is successfully placed on the flash drive and no errors associated with a lack of free space arise. The question arises ?
At one time, I also had to deal with a similar phenomenon when a file with a volume of 5.7 GB was not written to a removable disk, while another file whose volume was approximately 4.3 GB was written to a flash drive without any problems. So what exactly is the problem then, you ask?
In this article, we will try to understand why files larger than 4-5 GB may not be written to your flash drive. Do you know why such large files are not written to flash media? In general, more and more often, many users who encounter this problem are asking the following questions: how to write a file larger than 4 GB to a flash drive. Regarding the current issue, I can tell you that I have heard different answers, or rather arguments, reasoning from users who have not encountered a similar phenomenon before.
For example, on one of the forums, a user suggested the following answer options: files are not written to the flash drive because there is a virus there, which takes up the entire free disk space of the flash drive, or the flash drive is damaged or burned out.
I will tell you that in such a situation, when large files (more than 4-5 GB) are not written to the flash drive, this does not mean at all that it is damaged, or that there is some kind of virus or malware on it. And the reason for this is the fact that the flash drive has a FAT32 file system.
By the way, I recommend that you also read my article:
From here you should remember once and for all that this file system is not capable of supporting large volumes of files (more than 4-5 GB) for work.
Therefore, if you want files larger than 4 GB to be successfully copied to a USB drive and then used by you for a specific purpose, then in this case you first of all need a flash drive with the NTFS file system. In general, they say that the NTFS file system has the ability to contact such files, the volume of which can reach up to 16TB. From all of the above it follows that in order to To write a file larger than 4 GB to a flash drive, you will need a flash drive with the NTFS file system. There is no need to specifically run to the first computer store you come across to purchase such a flash drive.
I suggest you move on to the practical part of this article to clearly see how to independently convert the file system of your flash drive. So, I hope it is now clear to you that we will need to perform a number of necessary steps to create a flash drive with the NTFS file system.
In this article we will look at several options that will allow you to convert the file system. Therefore, if you have difficulties copying large files, then this article will help you solve your problem.
First Option:
So, after you have connected the flash drive to your computer, and the latter has successfully identified and recognized the USB drive, you will now need to go to the properties of the removable device.
To do this, open “My Computer” and right-click on the removable device.
From the context menu that appears, select Format. As a result, a special window will open in which you will need to click on the drop-down menu in the “File system” line and select NTFS.
Please note that if there are documents on your removable media, you will need to copy them to your computer.
Then all you have to do is click on the “Start” button. After a short time, the removable media will be formatted, after which the removable media will have the NTFS file system. However, one caveat should be noted here. If your computer still uses the Windows XP operating system, then in this case you will not be able to immediately format the flash drive in the NTFS file system.
In such a situation, you will need to open the “Device Manager” and select the value of removable storage, and then, as shown in the figure below, you just have to go to the “Policies” tab to activate the corresponding option.
Finally, you should open the properties of the flash drive again and format it.
After the flash drive is formatted, do not forget to set the parameter value in the “Policy” tab to its original value.
Second Option:
The second option involves changing the file system of a removable device using the “Convert” operation.
To begin, you will need to launch the command line by clicking on the “Start” button and typing “cmd” in the search bar and then pressing “Enter.”
Now in the window that opens, you should specify a special command, which will convert the file system of your flash drive. The command looks like this:
Then just press “Enter”. However, you should know that before converting a removable device, you will need to copy all the data to the hard drive, because you risk losing it.
I also draw your attention to the fact that you need to carefully enter the command and indicate the correct letter of your removable device. Otherwise, the conversion operation will not be completed and an error will appear indicating that the flash drive label is invalid.
At the end of this article, I would like to add that in addition to the above methods, they also resort to using various programs that also do a good job of changing the file system of a removable drive. However, if there are options for changing the file system that do not require installing software, then it is best to use these simple options, thereby not burdening your computer with the installation of unnecessary software.
For today, that’s all I wanted to tell you about today in terms of transferring data via removable devices. Have you ever seen errors of this kind when copying a large file and wondered how to write a file larger than 4 GB to a flash drive? I hope today's article was useful to you. See you all in the next article, dear readers!
P.S Finally, I suggest watching a video clip of a meteorite falling on Chelyabinsk!