How to Fix 'The File is Too Large for the Destination File System'
Sometimes when transferring large files from your computer to a removable drive, such as USB or an external hard drive, users may encounter a strange error stating 'The file is too large for the destination file system.' We say strange because the error is not caused by a lack of free space at the destination of the transfer. Instead, it is connected to the format of the external drive' file system.
If it is using the FAT32 file system, then the largest file that can be moved to it is 4GB. Keep in mind that this restriction applies to the size of the individual files and not as a whole. Fixing the issue is relatively easy - you just need to change the format of the drive. Unfortunately, using the built-in Windows utilities to do so would result in all data currently stored there being deleted.
Formatting FAT32 to NTFS
- Connect the USB or external drive to the computer system.
- Right-click it and choose 'Format' from the available options.
- In the new window, locate the 'File system' option.
- From the corresponding drop-down menu, select 'NTFS.'
- The last step is to click the 'Start' button and then wait for the process to complete.