Page 1 of 1

extracting files

Posted: 26 Apr 2007, 07:49
by Jana
is there a program that can extract files bigger than 4GB?

Posted: 26 Apr 2007, 09:13
by Bojan
Are you sure that the target hard drive you're extracting to is NTFS?
4GB is the filesize limit for FAT32.

Posted: 26 Apr 2007, 09:57
by Jana
that means im not able to extract that file at all!

Posted: 26 Apr 2007, 14:26
by Skyline_man
Jana wrote:that means im not able to extract that file at all!
Yes you can, just convert the drive to NTFS.

Posted: 26 Apr 2007, 19:37
by Jana
is it posible to do that on virtual drive? it would be easier for me, cuz i can use it only for that job!

Posted: 27 Apr 2007, 03:28
by Tuners Rock
i dunno, sounds impossible

Posted: 27 Apr 2007, 03:28
by Pabl0z
If you don't know, why bother replying?

Posted: 27 Apr 2007, 03:37
by prince1142003
Depends on what you mean by virtual drive. The most common ones are just empty folders mounted as drives. If that's the case for you, you'll need to convert the main drive to NTFS. Don't worry, there's no loss of data, and quite a few gains from converting. Only known problem is that Windows 2000 might have trouble accessing that partition, and Windows 95, 98, and ME won't be able to access it at all.

Posted: 27 Apr 2007, 09:46
by Jana
so, if i switch drive E to NTFS i wouldnt lose anything and i dont need to switch it back to FAT32, right?

Posted: 27 Apr 2007, 11:20
by Pabl0z
I think you have to have a certain amount of free space to make the conversion.
Can't remember how much though...
Anybody else remember anything about this?

Posted: 27 Apr 2007, 13:33
by Skyline_man
Just convert the drive that has the most free space to NTFS (at least 4 GB) with Partition Magic, and then extract the RAR file to it.

Posted: 27 Apr 2007, 20:21
by Jana
ok, but its not necessary to change it back to FAT32?

Posted: 27 Apr 2007, 22:02
by prince1142003
Not at all. You'd only need to do so if you plan on using Windows 95, 98, or ME to access that drive. NTFS is the file system you should be using with Windows anyways. It supports a very weak compression algorithm, so you'll actually be able to store more on the hard drive.

There's a command line utility that can convert the drive. It's built right into Windows, so you won't need some additional fancy utilities. You will need to defragment your hard drive afterwards, as a file system conversion will almost always leave the hard drive severely fragmented. Running a disk check wouldn't hurt either.

This should tell you all you need to know. I suggest that you run a disc check before and after the file system conversion.

EDIT:
The only danger is if the power supply cuts off before the conversion is completed, the drive will become unreadable by Windows (and most other programs).

Posted: 28 Apr 2007, 09:15
by Jana
tnx prince. what about running downloads to the drive i want to convert?

EDIT: NOT WAREZ!

Posted: 28 Apr 2007, 15:11
by prince1142003
Eh, what?

Once the file system is converted, as long as it's read in Windows XP, you should not encounter any problems.

Posted: 28 Apr 2007, 18:01
by Jana
i want to convert drive D, but my dad is downloading something to D drive (big files), so would i lose any progress?

Posted: 28 Apr 2007, 18:09
by prince1142003
He is downloading? Do you mean like a part-by-part download, or is he downloading everything at the same time, like a normal download using Internet Explorer? If it's an all-at-once download, you're best off waiting till the entire download is finished because you will need to restart the computer, and you will lose access to the drive while the file system conversion is occuring. If it's a part-by-part download, I don't see anything going wrong. Part-by-part downloads know the directory the file is going in, and write the file data into that directory. Just don't be downloading while the file system conversion is in progress.

I could go into more detail on how the file system conversion works. Basically in FAT, there's a File Access Table that keeps records of the locations of all files on the disc. In NTFS, this job is done by the Master File Table (MFT). Since it's basically the same conceptual system (in it's very simplicity), I can't see anything going wrong in the file system conversion process.

Posted: 02 May 2007, 11:34
by Jana
well my D drive is now NTFS and everything is fine. TNX PRINCE! :P