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Backup software shows an error after transferring 4 GB of data to an external drive

Published 08/20/2018 12:30 AM   |    Updated 04/25/2019 02:39 PM
Why does Windows Backup show an error after transferring 4 GB of data to an external hard drive?

Issue:

Your backup software (Windows Backup, Retrospect, WD Backup, Memeo, etc.) shows an error after attempting to backup more than 4 GB of data to an external hard drive formatted as FAT32.

Cause:

This issue is caused by an addressing limitation of the FAT32 format on the external hard drive. Windows is unable to transfer or create files larger than 4 GB on a hard drive formatted as FAT32. For more information about this FAT32 limitation, please see $EN_ANSWER_20778.

Solution:

To resolve this issue, the drive must be reformatted or converted to NTFS (Windows NT File System). NTFS does not have a transfer or file creation size limitation. For directions on how to reformat or convert a FAT32 formatted hard drive as NTFS, please see $EN_ANSWER_16074.