4Gb max file size? And related FAT vs NTFS question

[munky]

Right, this 4Gb max file size is very annoying when capturing video. From my DV camera, 4Gb of AVI is produced by only 15 minutes of tape on a high quality setting, meaning for an hour tape I have to do it in 4 chunks and then edit together the parts before creating an MPEG2.

Any way to get around this? Is it a limitation of Windows XP or of FAT?

Also... is there a benefit of converting my drives (30Gb in the laptop, 160Gb external USB iomega drive) from FAT32 to NTFS? I've read some comments that NTFS is faster, some that it's slower, and other comments that NTFS doesn't have this 4Gb file size limit. Is this true?

thank you!!!

[TheExcession]

off the top of my head,

I thought FAT16 & FAT32 could support upto 4GB,

NTFS has no real limit, there is a theoretical maximum but it's way in excess of most common hard drives.

(Google tells me it's around 16 terabytes!)

So my guess is switching to NTFS will get you sorted.

best
Ex

[aldi]

At a command prompt,

convert c: /fs:ntfs

NTFS is much much much better than FAT if things go tits-up too, chkdsk can fix anything on NTFS.

[munky]

Can the command prompt be in a DOS window, or do i first have to reboot into DOS? Does doing a CONVERT force a drive dismount? If so I could imagine it having a problem if windows is running.

thx!

May give it a go on my external g: drive before converting c:

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Convert does it's work at the next reboot I seem to remember. Also check that your capture program isn't doing the splitting. Some just don't ever make files bigger than 4GB regardless of the file system.

[ErnestM]

Attempting to do ANY video work on a non NTFS drive in Windows is an exercise in futility. Not just because of the 4GB limitation but also because of the ancient file system of FAT when it comes to the temp files that most video capture/editing programs spew hither and yon.

Go for NTFS every time.

ErnestM

[scorp]

4gb is the maximum for a FAT12/16/32 file. It is because the file size is held in 32 bits (2^32 bytes = 4GB)

[aldi]

munky said:

Can the command prompt be in a DOS window, or do i first have to reboot into DOS? Does doing a CONVERT force a drive dismount? If so I could imagine it having a problem if windows is running.

Start/Run/cmd

Just say yes to all the scary questions, then it'l say that it'l finish it at the next reboot (like Phil said)

[telecat]

If it sounds a bit scary try getting hold Of PartitionMagic. Creatiing the Emergency disks gives you two disks that allow you to boot to dos and manipulate the disk File type and Partitions.

[munky]

Brilliant - thanks for the answers chaps. Sounds like NTFS is the way forward Why are PCs still shipped with FAT though? There must be literally millions of people out there that don't know there's an alternative!

telecat - not so much being scary, I've got the entire c: drive backed up, was more a case of making sure it's the right thing to do. However just in case I'll probably attach the floppy drive and do a sys a: first!

Any good reason for partitioning the drive though? I know some people like to keep the OS and system files separate to everything else, but is there any benefit?

cheers

[telecat]

Well one trick I used to use was to move the existing Partition up the drive and create a new Primary. You could then install a new OS on the new Primary and use the "old" primary to recover anything back to the new or just use the new to test anything you wanted. You can also "join" new drives to the partition using PQ magic or add unused drive space to the existing partition. (Useful when the original partition wasn't the maximum size of the drive).

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

munky said:

Any good reason for partitioning the drive though? I know some people like to keep the OS and system files separate to everything else, but is there any benefit?

With NTFS and modern OS's etc? Nope. None. Just wastes space. Always end up with 2 GB free on one partition, 3 on another and a 4GB file

[CommanderJameson]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

munky said: Any good reason for partitioning the drive though? I know some people like to keep the OS and system files separate to everything else, but is there any benefit? With NTFS and modern OS's etc? Nope. None. Just wastes space. Always end up with 2 GB free on one partition, 3 on another and a 4GB file

There is some mileage in putting all your data in one place and all your OS/system stuff in another, for the simple reason that if your OS stuffs up and requires reinstallation, you can cheerfully reformat its partition and leave your data intact.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

CommanderJameson said:

There is some mileage in putting all your data in one place and all your OS/system stuff in another, for the simple reason that if your OS stuffs up and requires reinstallation, you can cheerfully reformat its partition and leave your data intact.

That's a fair point. You still get rather sweaty palms when it asks you which partition to trash though!

[CommanderJameson]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

CommanderJameson said: There is some mileage in putting all your data in one place and all your OS/system stuff in another, for the simple reason that if your OS stuffs up and requires reinstallation, you can cheerfully reformat its partition and leave your data intact. That's a fair point. You still get rather sweaty palms when it asks you which partition to trash though!

Adds a certain piquancy to the proceedings, I find...

...that is, when I forget to write it down.