if FAT32 then there is a 2GB filesize limit.

FAT32 has a 4Gig filesize limit.

For any file larger than FOUR Gig, you'll need to break them up into smaller pieces or change the format of the drive to NTFS.

They are FAT32.
Is there a way I can reformat the external drive so that I can put more than 4GB on it?
thanks for your help.
Coty

Is there a way to break the file up to smaller pieces, transfer the smaller pieces to the external drive and then reassemble them ON the drive itself to the original file format? Basically, my aim is to be able to hand a single file to another editor to do other work on it.

He is working on a MAC and I doubt he would be able to assemble two pieces on his computer.

OR, is there a portable drive sold commercially that will let me work in NTFS?

For the most part, external drives are formatted FAT32 to accommodate the widest variety of setups.

You should be able to easily format the drive from Control Panel/Performance and Maintenance/Administrative Tools/Computer Management. This path is for XP.

NOTE that you will have to save your files to another drive FIRST because the formatting to NTFS erases all files on the partition.

If you can't accomplish it from control panel, your drive maker will have a utility to do so. Sometimes you have to copy files to a floppy disk.

**if FAT32 then there is a 2GB filesize limit.

FAT32 has a 4Gig filesize limit.**
======================================

FAT32 does have a 4GB file size limit for SAVES.
Video CAPTURE FILES in FAT32 are limited to 2GB because of the driver model.
So you are both correct.

you can convert to NTFS without a need to lose any data - it should convert from FAT32 to NTFS without a hitch, but not the otherway. Anyhow, I would still make a backup just in case.

If the external drive is not being used by a pc running anything pre Xp, then you probably have no compatability problems to worry about. Slightly to complicate the matter - some USB drive cradles are piccy about with file system the drive has - so could be worth a quick look (but that might only be ones such as network ones[?])

convert DRIVE: /fs:ntfs

i've done that wayyyyy to much lately. :D

Make sure his Mac OS will allow him to read NTFS. Also, he will probably not be able to WRITE to the disk, only read.

Dave T2

The MAC Panther OS will mount an NTFS-formatted disk as read only. You can get the data off the drive, but the MAC won't be able to write to the drive.

you can convert to NTFS without a need to lose any data - it should convert from FAT32 to NTFS without a hitch, but not the otherway. Anyhow, I would still make a backup just in case.

True, but you have to use the Convert command (see previous HappyFriar post) and NOT use the Format command. If you Format, you will lose all your data. As long as you don't need to use this drive with a Mac, using Convert or Format to install the NTFS file system will solve the problem.

If there is no need to save the data, there is definitely an advantage to doing a Format (rather than Convert): Cluster size. In particular, there is a well-known "bug" in the Windows Convert operation in that it selects a less-than-optimal cluster size. The format operation always selects the "right" cluster size (although there are instances where a different cluster size may be "better").

See this Microsoft KB article: The Default Cluster Size for the NTFS and FAT File Systems.

"Video CAPTURE FILES in FAT32 are limited to 2GB because of the driver model."

That's odd. Back in my Win98 days i used to capture 4GB DV .avi files all the time. VidCap automatically rolled over into a new file at 4GB.

.wav files are limited to 2GB, even under NTFS.

Thanks so much - your suggestion worked like a charm. I was able to accomplish the re-format from the control panel without any problem whatsoever!

This is why I like the vv forum as much as I do!!

In fact, thanks to all who generously jumped in to help!

coty

John,

Thanks. I'm hoping that means he can transfer the file onto his hard drive and into his DVD authoring program or into Final Cut Pro and then work it. I don't need him to transfer it back to me, so it's OK that he can't write back to the drive.

I ask him to take my high rez QT rendered files from Vegas as his system produces much higher quality DVD's, something I've been unable to accomplish with Windows OS - although I'm not sure why.

Any ideas as to how one can produce higher resolution DVD's within windows?

Coty

The resolution of a DVD is fixed at 720x480 (or 720x576 PAL.) The MainConcept MPEG2 encoder in Vegas is quite good, so your might just need to tweak a few settings in the encoder to maximize your quality. First of all, make sure the quality slider is set to max (31). Secondly, image quality is determinded primarily by bitrate. This is always a tradeoff though; higher bitrate = higher quality = larger file. If the program is under about 74 minutes, you can use CBR at 8,000,000 bps and fit it on a single-layer DVD. That's going to make as good a looking file as possible. Longer programs will require using 2-pass VBR and you will need to determine the average bitrate using a bit-rate calculator.

BitCalc110.zip

Personally, I use Canopus Procoder 3 to generate my MPEG2 files. I think it looks slightly better than the encoder in Vegas.

John

john,
I have heard of Procodor and will give it a shot. I tend to make shorter films of 10 minutes or less from regular DV footage and stock, so fitting that to a DVD is never the problem. I will try what you have suggested.
Again, thanks so much for taking the time to help.
I greatly appreciate it.

Chien,
I think it depended on the drivers available for your codecs.
DirectShow = 4GB
VFW = 2 GB

Anyway on my old 98SE system with Vegas 2 and Scenealyzer, it would capture avi2 files in 2GB (about 9 minute) chunks and choke if I set the filesize higher, although I'm pretty sure I could render 4GB.

Musicvid, I agree with Chein - I was also able to capture and edit 4Gig files under FAT32 in Vegas. Vegas *IS* a "VfW" program so I'm still not sure where you're getting your information. There are some individual file types that were limited to 2 Gig.

Now you've got my curiosity piqued -- I've still got the original HD with the OS and apps including Vegas 2 intact. I'll fire it up one of these days and see what I can do. The stored DV captures I did in those days are all 2,089,379 KB, I'll see if I can do 4GB as a test. My analog avi vfw captures from the DC10+ days are all 2GB, as well.

If I recall, the difference was between Type 1 and Type 2 DV-AVI files.

There is some confusion about this whole AVI Type 1 and 2 thing.

Type-1:
The native DV interleaved stream that is produced and consumed in I/O with a DV device contains DV compressed video and pulse code modulated (PCM) audio data. This single interleaved stream can be stored in an AVI file as "ivas" stream (for interleaved video/audio stream). Microsoft refers to this format as a type-1 DV AVI file.

Because the type-1 format stores data as a single AVI stream, type-1 DV AVI files are not compatible with VfW. DirectShow, however, easily handles type-1 data streams by routing the streams to a DV Splitter filter that produces a DV-encoded video stream and one or more PCM audio streams for playback or subsequent processing.

Type-2:
Interleaved DV data can also be split into a single video stream and one to four audio streams within an AVI file. Microsoft refers to this format of storing DV data as type-2. This format has the advantage of being backward compatible with VfW, because it contains a standard video "vids" stream and at least one standard audio "auds" stream.

Notice that the type-2 file format requires a small amount of additional processing to split and multiplex the DV stream during the functions of capture and transmit to IEEE 1394 DV devices.

The confusion exists because there is also "AVI2" which was developed by Matrox in order to break the 2-gig barrier. Vegas is a VFW application which, by default, writes Type-2 AVI2 files.

John