File too large

Ook · 08-20-2008, 12:05 PM

I have a 5GB file on an ntfs partition, and I want to copy it to an ext3 partition. When I do so, the file gets about 80% there and aborts with the message "file too large". I know this is not a file system limitation, as both file systems should easily hold a 5GB file. The file is on an ntfs partition on a WinXP box, and the ext3 partition is on a 160GB drive, ext3, on a Slackware 12.1 box. How can I get the file copied over?

I've mounted the ntfs partition via mount, and used cp as well as midnight commander - same failure. I've shared the partition via samba and tried the copy from the Windows box - same failure.

Smaller files copy just fine, I don't think it's a permission issue.

disturbed1 · 08-20-2008, 01:59 PM

ext3 can, and does have a file size limit. It depends on the block size it was created with. Though doubt this would be the case

As using 1KB block size results is a max file size of 16GB.

V3.5 of ReiserFS does have a 4GB file size limit, 3.6 is 8TB. XFS has a limit of 8EB, and JFS 4PB. NTFS is 16EB. Those are single file size limits.

Unless you're using ReiserFS 3.5, or did an ext3 format using a block size less than 1KB, I don't believe it's a file system issue.

Maybe check disk quota, fsck the drive, free space, or ulimit -a?

Also, are you mounting with CIFS? If not try that.

Ook · 08-20-2008, 02:08 PM

I'm not using ReiserFS, just plain ordinary ext3. There is about 100GB free on the partition. The partition is clean. I'll try cifs and report results later today.

ulimit -a gives me:

core file size (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 4095
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 32
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 1024
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200
stack size (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 4095
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited

Ook · 08-20-2008, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by disturbed1

<snip>

Also, are you mounting with CIFS? If not try that.

CIFS did the trick! I was using smbfs, and I'm thinking there is a limit to the filesize you can create with smbfs. I mounted it with -t cifs and it copied the 5GB file with no problem at all.

disturbed1 · 08-20-2008, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ook

CIFS did the trick! I was using smbfs, and I'm thinking there is a limit to the filesize you can create with smbfs. I mounted it with -t cifs and it copied the 5GB file with no problem at all.

Good deal. I haven't used smbfs for so long, it almost skipped my mind about the bugs and limitations of it. 2.26.2 has it depreciated in the kernel. Hopefully they'll completely remove it soon as they did OSS.