Description
While attempting to create or transfer files larger than 4GB onto an external hard drive, an error message appears: There is not enough free space on my external drive.
This error is caused due to the destination hard drive running a FAT32 File System. This File System is recognized by most computer operating systems, but has a 4 GB file transfer and creation limitation. This means that files cannot be created or transferred to the hard drive if the file or group of files are larger than 4GB.
Resolution
If running Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, or running Mac OSX, the external hard drive can be reformatted to either NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (Mac) File Systems instead. These File Systems are not limited to a 4GB file size. For details on how to reformat a hard drive, please see Answer ID 8200: Steps to Format a Drive for Use with Windows or macOS.
