Help! hard drive gone wrong

[matt5791]

I have a problem with the hard drive I use on my PC exclusively for all my video clips and projects (for adobe premiere)

Recently this drive has suffered a problem - it will play the clips, for example, but very slowly (like CCTV footage)

So I have bought a new drive plus an external drive to save all the files onto, and then transfer them back to the new drive.

However, despite the fact that this external drive is 250gb (with pretty much all of that available), if I try and "send to" the external drive, a file bigger than around 4 gb, it tells me there is not enough disk space and should delete something.

Would anyone have any ideas why this is! - I'm tearing my hair out here. :evil:

Thanks for any advice,
Matt

[MovieStuff]

So I have bought a new drive plus an external drive to save all the files onto, and then transfer them back to the new drive.

However, despite the fact that this external drive is 250gb (with pretty much all of that available), if I try and "send to" the external drive, a file bigger than around 4 gb, it tells me there is not enough disk space and should delete something.

Most external drives are formated in Fat32, which has a 4 gig limit. Reformat the drive to NTSF and then you should have no problem.

Roger

[matt5791]

Excellent - thanks for that Roger - just one thing, how do I re-format it to NTSF?

Thanks
Matt

[MovieStuff]

Excellent - thanks for that Roger - just one thing, how do I re-format it to NTSF?

Just plug into your computer and find it under "My Computer". Right click and choose "format". It will then give you an option of FAT32 or NTSF. Just remember, any information on that drive will be lost during reformatting.

[+AnonymousGuest+]

You don't. You reformat to NTFS for starters.

If you are using XP or Win2K then just right click on the drive icon in my computer, desktop or where ever, hit format and select NTFS for the file system and click start. That's all there is to it.

edit : you only beat me to it because I needed to go to the toilet after typing my first sentence.

And what is this mysterious NTSF? you mention it so often you make me think it's me who's getting it wrong

[matt5791]

Thanks! I'm going ot have a go.

Regards,
Matt

[matt5791]

......I right clicked on the drive in my computer and then on format - it seems it is already in NTFS!

Below where it says NTFS is selected (it doesn't allow a choice for this infact) it has "allocation unit size" and then "Default unit size is chosen"

Matt

[MovieStuff]

And what is this mysterious NTSF? you mention it so often you make me think it's me who's getting it wrong

Eh, what's a bit of dyslexia among friends anyway. Which is it? NTSF or NTFS? I can never remember..... :oops:

Roger

[+AnonymousGuest+]

Below where it says NTFS is selected (it doesn't allow a choice for this infact) it has "allocation unit size" and then "Default unit size is chosen"

That shouldn't really matter as it's the file system that dictates the file size. If it's NTFS then it can handle files over 4gig. I'm not sure what the problem could be, sorry :?

[+AnonymousGuest+]

Eh, what's a bit of dyslexia among friends anyway. Which is it? NTSF or NTFS? I can never remember..... :oops:

It's ok Roger, we all knew what you meant ~pats shoulder~

[Angus]

NTFS = "New Technology File System"....from the days of Windows NT.

Only NTFS can handle files bigger than 4 gig...FAT32 and FAT16 cannot. However if your BIOS is out of date there could possibly be an issue with large files...depending on the age of your PC.

[MovieStuff]

Eh, what's a bit of dyslexia among friends anyway. Which is it? NTSF or NTFS? I can never remember..... :oops:

It's ok Roger, we all knew what you meant ~pats shoulder~

Hah! The funny thing is that I originally wrote NTFS but then thought I had it wrong so I changed it to NTSF. Should have left it alone!

[+AnonymousGuest+]

However if your BIOS is out of date there could possibly be an issue with large files...depending on the age of your PC.

That's a point. With my 200gig Western Digital drive i needed to run a few utilities which I had to download from their site (nice to tell me they were needed for the drive to function correctly or even include them with the drive) before it worked. I think your best bet is to visit the manufacturers website and see if they have a forum you can ask there or search for similar problems.

Sorry i cant be of more help than that.

[kentek]

You guys all got it right on the NTFS reformat.
If you want even a better solution with better performance buy an Adaptec SATA controller for about $55 and hang a Western Digital 250-500 GB drive on it. Drives are at an all time cheap price. NewEgg has 250 GB SATA for $90.

Disk space is almost free!

[super8man]

THe "new black" in hard drives is the perpendicular recording technology. Don't waste your time with anything under 250GB. I would get a 320 at minimum or 400GB. After that, you can go to the 750GB. For most folks, that's should do you for life. I run abnout 2.7 Terrabytes myself...but still, don't waste your time with anything under 250gb if you can at all avoid it. You say disk space if almost free, I say its not worth it to my power supply to run those smaller drives!