Problem:
You begin saving the monthly ISO downloader to an external USB hard drive or other media. It is proceeding normally, but then there is an error and it stops the download shortly after the first 4 GB of the file have been downloaded.
Probable Cause:
Some USB-based external drives and/or flash drives come formatted using the Fat32 File system. Fat32 is widely compatible with many systems but has a limitation that no single file on the volume can be larger than 4 GB in size. So even though the drive may have enough overall space to hold the downloader, the single file size limitation will prevent the downloader from being fully saved.
Verifying the Drive File System:
To confirm if this is the cause of the failure, check the file system in use on the drive you are saving the downloader to.
- Open Windows Explorer (keyboard shortcut: Win + E)
- Right click on the drive you're saving to and choose Properties.
- The file system in use will be displayed in the properties window.
(E
xample image: This USB drive pictured below is formatted using the FAT32 File System)
Solution:
It will not be possible to save the monthly downloader to a device formatted with the FAT or FAT32 file system. For a Windows PC, we recommend saving the downloader to a drive using either the
NTFS or
exFAT file system. Both of those file systems support very large file sizes. One solution is to format your external device to a new file system.
Warning: Formatting a drive will erase all data that is currently stored on that drive. So make sure you first make a backup of any data on the drive you are not prepared to lose. Once the drive has been reformatted to the new file system, you can then restore your data back to it. You should seek assistance from your company help desk or IT person for assistance if you have any doubt in that process.
File System Feature Reference Chart
