Can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format

When I try to save a movie i get the following message: can’t be copied because it is too large for the volume's format. What can I do

Hello,
Are you trying to copy it to a FAT32 formatted drive, which has a 4GB limit?

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The item "Mam's Australian Adventure.mov" can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format

I am attempting to tranfer a movie from my local hard drive to my WD 2TB HD and the comment on my screen is: The item “Mam's Australian Adventure.mov” can’t be copied because it is too large for the volume's format. Can you help me?

How is your WD drive formatted? If FAT32 you have probably hit its file size limitation. Unless you are also running Windows, your external drive should be formatted as HFS Extended (Journaled).

The item "FINAL.mpg" can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format

Way can not copy and past to my external hard

babanoel7777 wrote:
Way can not copy and past to my external hard
Your file is too large to be saved on the destinaion drive, that usually means that the fie is over 4GB and the drive is formatted MSDOS (Fat32)
How big is your file, and how is the external drive formatted?

The item can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format

i have a macbook pro and a external hard drive 1tb. the thing is i can not copy any file that is more than 4gb. i know that fat partiotion has restriction. How i can format my external hard drive so i can copy and paste file on it from windows and mac os?

That is because the drive if formatted FAT32 and with a FAT32 formatted drive you can't store any file that is larger then 4GB (actually you can't store/save any file that is 4GBs. It has to be Slightly smaller then 4GB).
So you need to format that drive with Mac Extended (Journaled) with a Partition Table of GUID or format it exFAT.
exFAT if you plan on using that external on both Mac and Windows computers. Mac Extended (Journaled) if it will only be used on Mac computers.
If you format it exFAT do that on a Windows computer as Mac screws up the formatting and it then can't be read on Windows computers. Doing it on a Windows computer it can be read and written to on both Win and Mac.

The file "" can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format

I've come across this error whilst trying to transfer a 7 gigabyte file onto various hard drives. It is apparent that file sizes smaller than this can be transferred however there seems to be a problem with this. I've tried to use the help of various forums but I simply have to no clue what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Specs; Macbook Pro 13-inch, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, OSX 10.9.4

You need to either segment the file or reformat the drive as Mac OS Extended, exFAT, or NTFS.
(114117)

Big file can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format

even thought i have formated my hard drive as an mac extended. but still facing the same problem so what could be the solution of this kind of problem..

HFS+ has a volume size limit of 8 exabytes, and so far I haven't seen any drives in those volume sizes.
What's likely the problem is there isn't enough free space to copy the file to your hard drive.

The item "Adkison Interdate.mov" can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format

Why do I keep getting this error whan I try to mov a small gig file to a 2 TB drive?

I felt like I needed to.
I wanted to make sure I posted the error message.

How can I put my recently purchased iTunes movies on to my thumb drive and WD My Passport external hard drive. My Mac keeps saying "can't be copy because it is too large for the volumes format

How can I put my recently purchased iTunes movies onto my thumb drive and WD my passport external hard drive.My Mac is saying that can't be copied because it is too large for volumes format

[file] is too large for the volumes format
That is usually an indication that the Volume was never Erased or Partitioned for GUID partition table and Mac OS, and is still in a Windows format.
Mac OS X Extended (journaled) has no such file-size limitations

I am having trouble with a video. I have tried to copy it to a flash drive because it is too big to fit on a DVD, it says it is too large for the volumes format. Please advise.

I have done many DVD's for seniors for graduation so I am familier with Imovie. I have just finished a projec that is a combination of video, music and stills. I shared it through idvd. Now I can't burn it to a dvd because it is too large. It is too big even for a two sided disk. I have researched it and i find that blue ray would be big enough. Does apple offer blue ray burner? if so, what is the cost? I tried another route and took my external hard drive to copy it to a PC. there computer wouldn't recongize my drive. I am assuming it is because it is formated for apple. I tired copying it to a flash drive and and it says that it can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format. Suggestions? PLEASE!!!!!

Could the video be too big because of using too high a resolution? 480p is sufficient for a DVD. the thread at:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5868958?tstart=30
may be of help.
Apple does not support Blue ray - you have to use a thrid party application like Toast.
To transfer the video to a PC you need a FAT-formatted hard drive (or of course a sufficiently big memory stick).
You could also go via a network, via the cloud (eg Dropbox) or with 'Wetransfer" or similar.
Geoff.

"The document can't be opened because it's too large."

I just copied a Numbers '09 file I just made at work (and can still open there) to my MBP and when I try to open it, I get a "The document can’t be opened because it’s too large." error. It's only 1.4MB. I tried reinstalling iWork and re-saving and copying the file to no avail. Has anyone seen this or have any ideas?

I am having a similar problem. I am evaluating Numbers 09 for the first time and would like to get rid of Excel, which seems incredibly slow to open. I'm ready for a change and I like the look and feel of Numbers.
I am working with an export file of data from FileMaker Pro - 3900 rows by 336 colums, so over 1.3 million potentially filled cells. My MacBook Pro has 2 gb of RAM and currently shows 185 free, 495 inactive, 557 wired, and 804 active.
When I try to open the txt file (8.3 mb), I get the error message referred to above. When I open it in Excel, it immediately opens. I can then save it as an Excel file. When I try to open this Excel file in Numbers, it will open but I get a message stating that only 255 or fewer columns are supported.
Could this possibly be right? Granted, who in their right mind would create a data table with that many columns, but when working with legacy data (which is why I have a job) this is often the case and it's my job to clean it up.
Any assistance in both of my errors would be appreciated . . . even if the advice is to stick with Excel

Since upgrading to 10.7.4 my 21.5 inch imac the window is too large for the display. How can I make it fit?

since upgrading to 10.7.4 my 21.5 inch imac the window is too large for the display. How can I make it fit?

Some possibilities:
If you have a Magic Mouse do Control+stroke downwards on the mouse.
Check System Preferences>Displays is set to the correct resolution
Check System references>Accesability and make sure Zoom isn't turned on.

Time Machine Error - The backup is too large for the backup disk

I have been using Lion (currently 10.7.1) on my MacBook Pro (13" - early 2011) since it was released. I haven't had any serious problems with it.
All of a sudden, I am getting an error in Time Machine. When it tries to run a backup, the error "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 7.51 GB but only 630.1 GB are available." What gives? That's plenty of room. I have installed Logic Studio and a few plug-ins, so the 7.51 GB is probably right. The free space is correct as well. I can't understand what the problem is.
The backup disk is an external USB 2.0 drive with no other Time Machine backups on it or any other files. The folder "Backups.backupdb" is the only thing on the root of the disk.
I am reluctant to reset the Time Machine and lose all of the backups, but I will if anyone recommends it.

Hi Linc,
It is not working at the moment, as I have restored the original Lion image again; it has all my work and apps on it.
Many thanks for the info on the log, though. It tells a strange story. Here's the log from the last backup that worked to the first one that failed: --
Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Starting standard backup
Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: 100.0 MB required (including padding), 633.72 GB available
Sep 12 17:15:55 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
Sep 12 17:16:00 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Copied 793 files (601 KB) from volume System.
Sep 12 17:16:00 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: 100.0 MB required (including padding), 633.72 GB available
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Copied 89 files (93 bytes) from volume System.
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro mds[34]: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Starting post-backup thinning
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Deleted /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb/John’s MacBook Pro/2011-09-11-154229 (1.1 MB)
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Post-back up thinning complete: 1 expired backups removed
Sep 12 17:16:01 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[674]: Backup completed successfully.
Sep 13 10:34:12 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Starting standard backup
Sep 13 10:34:12 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb
Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: 7.51 GB required (including padding), 630.11 GB available
Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: No expired backups exist - deleting oldest backups to make room
Sep 13 10:34:52 Johns-MacBook-Pro mds[32]: (Error) Volume: Could not find requested backup type:2 for volume
Sep 13 10:35:03 Johns-MacBook-Pro com.apple.backupd[287]: Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.
I don't understand. For starters, I think it's a little wasteful that 3.5 GB has been used to back up 601 KB. That's the difference in free space on the backup volume between the two backups. That can't be normal, surely.
The only error is that mds[32] error, and from what I've read on forums, that seems to appear on backups that work perfectly.
Too weird. It looks like I'll have to reinstall Lion and all my applications again to get Time Machine working, or find another backup solution.

My time Machine keeps saying, "Time Machine could not complete the backup. This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 345.74 GB but only 289.80 are available." I have already excluded files. I have a 1tb external drive. HELP!!!

For over two weeks now I have been frustated and not having my TIme Machine back up to my 1tb external drive. I dont understand why now its a problem. It keeps saying
"This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 345.74GB but only 289.80GB are avialable. Time Machine needs work space on the bakup disk, in addition to the space required to store backups. Open Time Machine preferences to select a large backup disk or make the bakup smaller by excluding files." So I have already excluded almost all of my files, and even deleted the backup disk yet, that quote still keeps popping up. I am truly at a wall with this. I have a Mac OS X version 10.7.5. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE????

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Error: "This backup is too large for the backup volume."

Well TM is acting up. I get an error that reads:
"This backup is too large for the backup volume."
Both the internal boot disk and the external baclup drive are 1TB. The internal one has a two partitions, the OSX one that is 900GBs and a 32GB NTFS one for Boot Camp.
The external drive is a single OSX Extended part. that is 932GBs.
Both the Time Machine disk, and the Boot Camp disk are excluded from the backup along with a "Crap" folder for temporary large files as well as the EyeTV temp folder.
Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF? The TM pane says that "only" 782GBs are going to be backed up. Where did the 938GBs figure come from?
This happened after moving a large folder (128GB in total) from the root of the OSX disk over to my Home Folder.
I have reformated the Time Machine drive and have no backups at all of my data and it refuses to backup!!
Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
Some screenshots:
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm2.png
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm1.png
http://www.xcapepr.com/images/tm4.png

xcapepr wrote:
Time Machine says it needs 938GBs to backup only the OSX disk, which has 806GBs in use with the rest free. WTFFF? The TM pane says that "only" 782GBs are going to be backed up. Where did the 938GBs figure come from?
Why would it need 938GBs of space to backup if the disk has "only" 806 GBs in use??? Is there anyway to reset Time Machine completely???
TM makes an initial "estimate" of how much space it needs, "including padding", that is often quite high. Why that is, and Just exactly what it means by "padding" are rather mysterious. But it does also need work space on any drive, including your TM drive.
But beyond that, your TM disk really is too small for what you're backing-up. The general "rule of thumb" is it should be 2-3 times the size of what it's backing-up, but it really depends on how you use your Mac. If you frequently update lots of large files, even 3 times may not be enough. If you're a light user, you might get by with 1.5 times. But that's about the lower limit.
Note that although it does skip a few system caches, work files, etc., by default it backs up everything else, and does not do any compression.
All this is because TM is designed to manage it's backups and space for you. Once it's initial, full backup is done, it will by default then back-up any changes hourly. It only keeps those hourly backups for 24 hours, but converts the first of the day to a "daily" backup, which it keeps for a month. After a month, it converts one per week into a "weekly" backup that it will keep for as long as it has room
What you're up against is, room for those 30 dailies and up to 24 hourlies.
You might be able to get it to work, sort of, temporarily, by excluding something large, like your home folder, until that first full backup completes, then remove the exclusion for the next run. But pretty soon, it will begin to fail again, and you'll have to delete backups manually (from the TM interface, not via the Finder).
Longer term, you need a bigger disk; or exclude some large items (back-them up to a portable external or even DVD/RWs first); or a different strategy.
You might want to investigate CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper!, and other apps that can be used to make bootable "clones". Their advantage, beyond needing less room, is when your HD fails, you can immediately boot and run from the clone, rather than waiting to restore from TM to your repaired or replaced HD.
Their disadvantages are, you don't have the previous versions of changed or deleted files, and because of the way they work, their "incremental" backups of changed items take much longer and far more CPU.
Many of us use both a "clone" (I use CCC) and TM. On my small (roughly 30 gb) system, the difference is dramatic: I rarely notice TM's hourly backups -- they usually run under 30 seconds; CCC takes at least 15 minutes and most of my CPU.

Backup too large for the backup volume??

Hi,
My disk is 30Go of windows and 120Go of Mac. Only 115Go are used. My backup volume is 185Go.
But Time machine tells me, *on the first backup*, that it needs 330Go for backup??? What the f**?
All my external disks are excluded, and it does say the size of the included files is 115Go. How come time machine needs *three times* the space of the original data??

When my Time Machine disk had only 50GB left, I got the message that it couldn't back up because it required 118GB to do so. Because there was, for some reason, only one day backed up, I deleted the backup files to start fresh. Now I am getting the message:
"This backup too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 1056.6 GB but only 929.4 GB are available."
Well, the backup only require 118GB a little while ago, and the initial full backup that I deleted was 880 GB. Nothing has been added to the startup disk, and a 400GB disk has been excluded to try to make this work, so this message can't be right.
How do I make this work? I did not interrupt or abort another backup, and I've already reformatted the drive, with the same result. Do I have to keep reinstalling Time Machine every time I want to backup?

Can't be copied because it is too large for the volume's format

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