PC user cannot open file off DVD

Question

Hi chaps, maybe a little off topic but I have sent a PC user a file (4Gb) on a DVD burnt with 'Toast' and they say they cannot open it on any of their machines, they say they are getting something like 'autorun' - I'm not able to visit their premises so I cannot check this out - does anyone have any suggestions, this is getting seriously boring (I zipped it and popped it onto 'Dropbox' and they are having trouble with that as well) ! - thanks for taking the time ... Roger

Answer 1

How many bytes is the file? A file that is 4Gb is size is a little suspicious. It could very well be a larger file that was truncated to 4Gb because of a limitation of the underlying filesystem. For example, a data DVD has a maximum file size of 4,294,967,295 bytes. The DVD can hold more information, but that's the largest a single file can be. Windows FAT32 filesystems have a similar limitation. If your file is 4,294,967,295 bytes, then the file was probably bigger and the end of the file was cut off (or, in some cases, may even be written over the beginning of the file).
I bet that you can't open the file either (not the copy on your computer, but the copy burned to DVD).
As for "AUTORUN", that's a Windows thing and shouldn't apply. Unless you had Toast include something else on the DVD to install software of some sort, it shouldn't matter. However, I would avoid using Toast for making simple data DVDs. Using the Finder to burn DVDs isn't only simpler, but much more reliable.