External Hard Drive Error

Peterdmc

Hi im having a hard drive problem was hoping i could get some help on. I recently got a 400GB External for storing video footage on. I have some files digitised on my Mac in work that i want to bring home. They vary in size from 8G to 20G.

Basically when i drag the icon for the file into my external the transfer begins, only for it to stop sometime later with this message: " Sorry could not complete transfer because an unexpected error occoured. Error -1309"

Im thinking there may be a file size transfer limit, but surley thats ridiculous!

Anyone had this problem and how did you solve it?????

martin84

Did you run the diskutility? The drive could be corupt.

Peterdmc

sure did, says eveything checks out. It happened on a previous drive i had too.

martin84

What is it formatted with?

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=165745

Peterdmc

indeed, i think the format is the problem. its FAT32, im pretty sure thats what needs changing

Ruu_Old

FAT32 has a file size limit of around 4GB I think, could be the problem alright.

martin84

If the file is over 4gb, you should be able to split the file, copy it over then join it again.

http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-40322.html

Peterdmc

Yeah so i think i have to re format to NTFS, but mac cant write to this so no point, or HFS. Unfortunatly i have no idea howw to do it!

Having a 4GB limit on a 400GB HDD seems to defeat the purpose dont ya think?

enda1

Is your home computer a mac too? If so HFS+ is what you want. Otherwise your gonna have to split the file or else download an emulator for your home PC which will then be able read the info on the HFS+ formatteed HD.

To format the HD on your mac, go to utilities>disk utility. Then select the external HD in the menu, go to erase and set the volume format to HFS+ (could be called mac journaled or extended or something like that).

Peterdmc

yeah home computer is a G5. If i click erase, thast gonna erase all the content currently on there.Correct?

enda1

Correct. Though you could set up a separate partition on the HD and format that in HFS+. Then transfer your big files to that yet still keep the ability to take small files from PCs via the FAT32 format.

EDIT: I think you can but you might actually need to reformat the entire HD to set up partitions, not sure.

Peterdmc

Really?that certainly sounds like the solution. How do i go about creating the partition?This is my first foray into drive mechanics im afraid.

Peterdmc

ah your edit seems to have answered my question. It probably gives that option upon selecting delete.i think ill store the current info somewhere safe, reformat the drive then transfer it back again.

ps thanks for your help!

pedro ferio-vti

just take it down to Paul G, he can take a soil sample from the drive and reformat it for you