Limiting the length of files in Windows features and subtleties. The file size exceeds the allowed limit and cannot be saved Exceeds the file system size limit

How to remove file system restriction?

Master's answer:

Sometimes some file systems may have certain limitations. For example, if your computer has FAT, then you will not be able to download from the Internet or write to your hard drive a file whose size will exceed four gigabytes. Of course, you can remove the restriction on writing and copying files. This can be done by converting the file system to NTFS.

Will try to convert the file system using standard operating system tools. Click the Start menu, then All Programs. There, select "Standard Programs". In this tab, select “Command Line”.

First, let's look at the case of converting a system disk. To do this, enter C: /FS:NTFS into the command line. If your system partition contains a different letter, then instead of C you need to enter this letter. After you enter the command, press Enter. You will see a message that this system partition is in use, which means conversion will be possible only the next time the system starts. Press the Y key. After that, restart your computer.

After the reboot, the partition will begin the conversion process. After the conversion process is completed, your computer will restart again. The next time you start you will already have an NTFS file system. This means that all restrictions will be lifted.

If you want to convert some other partition, then simply put the required letter in front of the /FS:NTFS command. In this case, you will not necessarily need to restart your computer.

As an alternative to the standard method, you can also use the Norton Partition Magic 8.0 application. download this program from the Internet, and then install it on your computer. Launch the utility. In the main menu you will find a list of all hard drive partitions.

Right-click on the letter of the partition you will be converting. Select "Convert" from the context menu. A new window will open where you need to check the NTFS option and click OK. After this, file system conversion will begin. Once finished, your computer will reboot and your file system will already be converted. All file size restrictions will be removed.

Have you ever encountered an error message in Windows that says you can't copy (move) a file and that one of the files is too big? If yes, then you probably wondered why such a message appeared (example in the picture below). This article will explain the features and subtleties of the restrictions that are imposed on the length of a file name in Windows.

Depending on the structure of the file system, various restrictions will be placed on the length of file names. It is important to remember and understand that the name of a file consists not only of the extension and the name that you gave it when creating it. The file name includes all the information the operating system needs to accurately identify the file. In other words, the file name includes the drive and all the directories within which the file is located. Additionally, the name may contain various system information (and you may not necessarily see it anywhere).

Note: If you didn't know, in most file systems a directory is a type of file, but with zero data size.

There are many different file systems, each of which has its own way of defining file name structure, including how the file path is constructed. For example, small USB storage devices usually use the FAT32 system. And on optical disks (CD/DVD), UDF or ISO 9660 is usually used. On system disks of the latest Windows operating systems, the NTFS file system is used, which will be the subject of this article (as it is the most common for Windows).

Note: For example, on system disks with Windows XP, the FAT32 file system was often used. However, it had a significant (for today's time) drawback - it was limited to the maximum file size of 4 GB. NTFS does not have such a limitation.

There is some confusion about the maximum filename length numbers for the NTFS file system that you may find in various sources. For starters, there is an absolute limit imposed by the Windows API, and it is 260 characters. However, the practical limit is less than 260 characters. For example, all names must have a null terminator at the end. Usually, this marker is only seen by Windows, but it is still perceived as one character. So you only have 259 characters available. Three more characters are used to indicate the drive (for example, C:\). Thus, the actual limit for a name containing all directories, including subdirectories, and the name of the file itself along with the extension, is reduced to 256 characters.

Note: Windows API is the kernel interface on which the entire operating system is built and which programs use.

However, there is another subtlety related to the way Windows encodes characters. No individual object (file or directory) can have a name longer than 255 characters. In this case, the name includes spaces and backslashes, which are used as delimiters. This 255 character limit is often cited as the limit for a single file name, but, in practice, it only applies to file names in the root directory without any directories.

There is another limitation on file name length that is often overlooked. Typically, by default, Windows supports an alternate file name using the old 8.3 naming system. When you create a folder, Windows will reserve 12 characters for the file's alternate name, leaving 244 characters for all objects contained within. Use of the 8.3 naming system can be disabled, but this may cause problems when using older 16-bit programs.

Note: The 8.3 naming system is quite simple. 8 is the number of characters in the name. "." is the separator between the name and the extension. 3 is the number of characters for the extension. 12 is 8 + 1 + 3.

Note: For more information on how to disable support for 8.3, see the information at https://technet.microsoft.com/ru-ru/library/cc778996.aspx. Please note that you will need to edit the registry.

There is also a mechanism that allows you to use longer file names. For example, network systems sometimes require more flexibility in file names. Therefore, the Windows API includes a special call system to support very long Unicode names in blocks of 255 characters. These long names begin with the prefix "\\?\" (without quotes). So, if you are faced with a problem in a file name whose length is too long, then try using this prefix in the path name, for example, “\\?\c:\file.txt” (without quotes).

Most cases of errors in file name paths that are too long are associated with a high level of directory nesting. Therefore, being aware of the limitations will allow you to be careful when creating your directory structure and avoid problems associated with names that are too long.

IP address and its features

Fundamental articles

Some users are still faced with the problem of handling files larger than 4 GB.

As a rule, this happens more and more often when downloading files from or somewhere else (because we rarely move files of this size, which means people simply don’t know that they have a similar problem and why they have it).

Error when file is larger than 4 GB

In the case of a torrent, the error looks like this: "One or more files exceed the file system size limit and cannot be downloaded."

In other cases, if my memory serves me correctly (and it happens :)), it sounds like “No access. The disk is full or write-protected.”

The essence of the problem is that the FAT32 file system (and users who encounter a similar problem use this particular file system) supports a maximum file size of 4,294,967,296 bytes and no more. There is nothing to be done about this - that’s how it was intended from the very beginning.

The solution to the problem is to reformat or convert to the NTFS file system.

Solution 1

I’ll start with the second method as the most acceptable:

To start the conversion, do the following.

Start - Run - cmd

A console will open in front of you. Enter there:

convert D: /fs:ntfs

Where D: is the drive letter that you want to convert to NTFS format.
I don’t remember exactly, but I have an opinion that, as in the case of formatting, convert the system disk, i.e. the one where the system is currently located will not work. The way out of this is either formatting or connecting the hard drive to another computer.

Solution option 2

As for formatting...
It is impossible to do this without losing data, because formatting erases all files from the hard disk, and therefore you need to either be prepared for this and transfer all the information to external media, or simply buy a new disk and format it in the NTFS file system. To format, click:

My computer - Right-click on the desired drive- Format - File system: NTFS- we put "Quick Format" checkbox- Begin .

We are waiting for the formatting to finish.
Alternatively, to move files, you can cut them into pieces with special programs, but this will not solve the problem in the case of downloading files from the Internet, and is it even worth making a fuss? In addition, changing the file system to NTFS will also have a positive effect on the performance of the hard drive in Windows Vista, since both operating systems are designed to work with this file system.

Afterword

That's how things are. If you have questions, ask in the comments.

Attention for users of older operating systems (pre-XP). The NTFS file system is not supported by these versions of operating systems, i.e. You will not see the newly reformatted disk if you have one of the versions of Windows of the 95/98 family.

Error 0x800700DF, The file size exceeds the allowed limit and cannot be saved when copying or moving files on your computer. If you receive

Error 0x800700DF, Windows PC, to another drive or external device, here are some solutions that may help you fix the problem.

The file size exceeds the allowed limit and cannot be saved

Even if you have more than required space on the destination drive, you may receive this error. Here's what you can do in such situations.

1] Check registry settings

There is a registry file that determines how much data can be changed at a time. If this value is corrupted in any way, you are facing a problem. Before making any changes in Registry Editor, make sure you have created a system restore point or backed up your registry files. After that press Win + R, type regedit

And press the Enter button to open the Windows Registry and navigate to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Services WebClient Parameters On right click, you will see a key called FileSizeLimitInBytes

Double click on it to change it. If selected Hexadecimal , make sure the value is set to 2faf080
. If selected Decimal , make sure the value is set to 50000000 . If this value doesn't solve your problem, try using this value: 4294967295

. Restart your computer. Alternatively, you can restart the service WebClient . To do this, open the Windows Service Manager and find WebClient Service. After double clicking on it, the Properties window will open. Click Stop , and then Launch

To restart the service.

Now check whether the file can be copied without any problem or not.

2] Configure Maximum File Size in SharePoint If you are using Microsoft SharePoint and are getting this issue while inserting a file into any SharePoint folder, you should check the maximum file size. To do this you need to open the Administration Center and find Web Application Management V Application management . After that, select the SharePoint application and open General settings

. Then you need to find out the option Maximum load and select a value equal to the value Maximum Workbook Size V Excel Services

or higher. Click the button OK

For more information you can check docs.microsoft.com.

3] Change file system

If you encounter this problem when copying files to an external device such as an SD card or USB, you can try changing the file system of that device. To do this, you need to format this external device. Connect your USB drive and open This PC . Right-click the USB drive and select Format . In the window Format select NTFS as File system and press the button Begin