# Cannot copy large files to my external hard drive



## kaiser_man (Mar 7, 2007)

I have a 38gb iMovie file on my MacBook.  I also have a 160gb external HDD.  I want to copy the file across, sounds simple right?  It will start copying happily but when it gets to about 8-10gb I get this error message (EVERY TIME!):



> _Sorry, the operation could not be completed because an unexpected error has occurred (Error code -1309)._



Can anyone help me?  I really do not want to delete this file as it is a wedding video I did for a friend only a few months ago.

I am trying to copy across to a Freecom II drive using USB. 

Thanks

Kai


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## kaiser_man (Mar 7, 2007)

Interestingly, the copy seems to always stop when it gets to 31 mins remaining


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## lurk (Mar 7, 2007)

How is the external drive formatted?  If I remember correctly FAT32 can only handle files up to 4GB in size.


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## kaiser_man (Mar 7, 2007)

That is interesting, I will check it out, how can I find out?


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## bobw (Mar 7, 2007)

Get Info on the drive should show the format.


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## wraith (Mar 7, 2007)

Is it a single iMovie file, or an iMovie project? (Collection of files.) If it's a collection of files, you may be trying to copy a file with an invalid filename for the target filesystem.


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## powermac (Mar 7, 2007)

It sounds like the drive is formatted in Fat32.


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## kaiser_man (Mar 8, 2007)

Just checked it and it is formatted to Fat32, what can I do about this?


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## ora (Mar 8, 2007)

Well you'd have to reformat it to Mac OS Extended using Disc Utility, but of course first you'd need to back up any files on it to DVD or some other format. Also, FAT32 has the advantage of being both readable and writable on PC as well as Mac, whereas the Mac format can't be seen by PCs (unless you buy software called MacDrive).


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## kaiser_man (Mar 8, 2007)

I hoped that would not be your response!  I now need to find 70gb of space so I can re-format my drive.  Thanks for your help.

Kai


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## Kees Buijs (Mar 8, 2007)

kaiser_man said:


> I hoped that would not be your response!  I now need to find 70gb of space so I can re-format my drive.  Thanks for your help.
> 
> Kai



Maybe you split up the external drive in 2 parts and make 1 part fat32 and the other OS-X preferred format. Allows you to still connect your drive to PC's (for exchanging data).


Good Luck, Kees


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## kaiser_man (Mar 8, 2007)

I don't need to use it for a PC so formatting it to OS X is fine, my problem is offloading the drive to re-format it.


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## Kees Buijs (Mar 8, 2007)

kaiser_man said:


> I don't need to use it for a PC so formatting it to OS X is fine, my problem is offloading the drive to re-format it.



We can't help you with that regretfully ...


Good luck, Kees


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## kaiser_man (Mar 8, 2007)

I have almost sorted it now.


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## kaiser_man (Mar 8, 2007)

I have now managed to clear the HDD...

Where in Disc Utility do I re-format the drive?  Is it in Erase?  Also what should I format to?:

Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Mac OS Extended
Mac OS Extended (Case-senitive, Journaled)
Mac OS Extended (Case-senitive)

Sorry I am not actually stupid, I just want to make sure I get this right


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## ora (Mar 8, 2007)

No problem, we're here to help!

Yes, it is under 'Erase' and I use "Mac OS extended (journaled), that is the default for Mac discs.


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## kaiser_man (Mar 8, 2007)

That has worked a treat thanks guys


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## artov (Mar 8, 2007)

Ok, you have repartitioned your disk, so this comes too late.

But, you could have used split-command (from Terminal.app). With split,
you can split the file to smaller pieces. The pieces are of same size, 
measured either will line count or size.

So in your case:

$ split -b 1900m TheBigFile.avi /TheExternalDisk/piece.

I used 1900m, so each file (/TheExterenalDisk/piece.aa, /TheExternalDisk/piece.ab ...) will be of 1900MB (all but the last) and
thus fit nicely on the FAT32 disk.

You can recreate the original file with

$ cat /TheExternalDisk/piece.?? > newBigFile.avi


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## kaiser_man (Mar 9, 2007)

Thanks for that Artov, shame it came too late, never mind, I will know for next time!


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## ora (Mar 9, 2007)

apart from the unix commands, this reminded of a program i had lying about, Split&Concat, which is a graphical interface to the same system.


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## anares (Jan 20, 2010)

ora said:


> apart from the unix commands, this reminded of a program i had lying about, Split&Concat, which is a graphical interface to the same system.



One more solution. Download muCommander - it's free. It will remind to some of us the good old Norton Commander. The application can split files so it will do the job. Tested by myself with 10GB files.


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## dan674 (Jul 22, 2010)

i want to be able to get it onto a fat32 drive because my TV can play movies straight off the hard drive via USB. if i were to split it can i then recreate on on the fat32 drive so it is playable?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jul 22, 2010)

You can't store a file larger than 4GB on a FAT32-formatted drive.  It is a limitation of the FAT32 format, and there is no way around it.

If you split the file into 4GB (or smaller) chunks, you cannot "recreate" them on the drive if the resulting file will be larger than 4GB.


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## dan674 (Jul 23, 2010)

whats the best way to split a mkv file into 2 or more parts so i can put them on the fat32 harddrive and be able to play them in their separate parts?


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