Cannot create large files on USB drive

[Guest Bill Smith]

We are using a windows sbs 2003 server. We are backing up to multiple

external usb drives that we rotate in and out. YES, the usb drives are

formatted with NTFS. There are approx 400GB of free space on each drive. We

are using Nova Backup to accomplish the backups. We are backing up approx

40gb. The issue we are having is that when Nova does the backup, it creates

several smaller files opposed to just one large backup file. The files are

approx 4gb each so I initially thought the external drives were formatted in

FAT16 or FAT32 but that isnt the case. I cannot find any setting in Nova

Backup that allows you to set it to create just one large file. So I'm

thinking it may be a function in the OS somewhere. I want to say that I

think in Backup Exec there is an option when backing up to a usb drive to set

the backup file size but I couldnt find anything in Nova. Does anyone know

how to do this? Is this a SBS option that can be set? If not, does anyone

know how to get Nova Backup to do it? Your help would be greatly

appreciated!

 

Bill Smith

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: Cannot create large files on USB drive

 

Bill Smith <BillSmith@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> We are using a windows sbs 2003 server. We are backing up to multiple

> external usb drives that we rotate in and out. YES, the usb drives

> are formatted with NTFS. There are approx 400GB of free space on

> each drive. We are using Nova Backup to accomplish the backups. We

> are backing up approx 40gb. The issue we are having is that when

> Nova does the backup, it creates several smaller files opposed to

> just one large backup file. The files are approx 4gb each so I

> initially thought the external drives were formatted in FAT16 or

> FAT32 but that isnt the case. I cannot find any setting in Nova

> Backup that allows you to set it to create just one large file. So

> I'm thinking it may be a function in the OS somewhere. I want to say

> that I think in Backup Exec there is an option when backing up to a

> usb drive to set the backup file size but I couldnt find anything in

> Nova. Does anyone know how to do this? Is this a SBS option that

> can be set? If not, does anyone know how to get Nova Backup to do

> it? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

>

> Bill Smith

 

Try using SBSBackup (a wrapper for NTBackup) to the same drives and see

whether you have the same problem. It's best to post in

m.p.windows.server.sbs when you're using SBS - you'll get more expert help

that way.

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Cannot create large files on USB drive

 

 

"Bill Smith" <BillSmith@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:35C4F19E-16F2-438F-B4BC-5A8752EAD994@microsoft.com...

> We are using a windows sbs 2003 server. We are backing up to multiple

> external usb drives that we rotate in and out. YES, the usb drives are

> formatted with NTFS. There are approx 400GB of free space on each drive.

> We

> are using Nova Backup to accomplish the backups. We are backing up approx

> 40gb. The issue we are having is that when Nova does the backup, it

> creates

> several smaller files opposed to just one large backup file. The files

> are

> approx 4gb each so I initially thought the external drives were formatted

> in

> FAT16 or FAT32 but that isnt the case. I cannot find any setting in Nova

> Backup that allows you to set it to create just one large file. So I'm

> thinking it may be a function in the OS somewhere. I want to say that I

> think in Backup Exec there is an option when backing up to a usb drive to

> set

> the backup file size but I couldnt find anything in Nova. Does anyone

> know

> how to do this? Is this a SBS option that can be set? If not, does

> anyone

> know how to get Nova Backup to do it? Your help would be greatly

> appreciated!

>

> Bill Smith

 

To work out if this is a Nova or a Windows issue, open a Command Prompt and

type the following command:

 

fsutil file createnew U:\big.bin 4000000000

 

The command will create a 4GByte file on drive U:. If drive U: is an NTFS

partition then the file will be created almost instantly. If it is a FAT32

partition then it will fail, or take forever when try a smaller size.