Backing up files problem

[matt_mu]

so im copying data, program files, games ect. from my hdd on my external hdd so i can put them on my new hdd im going to get. but the problem is, is that theres 64.3gigs left on the external hdd and when i try to copy a file thats around 6 gigs to the external hdd it says it cant copy because theres not enough space. The external drive is an 256GB(or so) external western digital with 64.3gigs unused. whats wrong?

Thanks
Matt

 

[GhislainG]

How large is the file on disk? Is your external hard disk FAT32 or NTFS? If FAT32, then the maximum file size is 4GB - 1 byte.

If possible, compress the file and then copy the compressed version (it will hopefully be less than 4GB) to the external hard disk.

 

[matt_mu]

Yes it's FAT32 so I'll try compressing thanks