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Yet another really annoying limitation with this Note 10.1 2014 (USB toGO)

dianehelen

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Jun 5, 2011
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So as I continue getting my tablet set up to my customization. One of the features I bought this for, was the ability to use a USB flash drive. I move movies and other bits of entertainment to and from my tablet. I did make sure USB to go was part of this tablet, as its NOT on my Tab3. Ok, so I tested it with a small 2gb drive and it worked, yay.

But now my big drive, (well not even that big) a 16 gb drive, I wanted to see if that worked. Well it did not, and what I found is that because its formatted NTFS it wont work? WTF? what is the logic here. I had to copy off all the files on this drive, reformat to (stoneage) FAT32, and try to move the files back,.

Well low and behold , a FAT32 drive can only support a file size of up to 4.3gb. My Rolling Stones Concert, that I watch bits of very often, is 4.73 gb and it wont copy GRRRR

I probably know the answer, but is there ANY work around to this? Or am I limited to only use a FAT32, limited file size flash drive?

Also, I have not tried it yet, but can I assume this will be the same for a MicroSD card as well?

Grrrr, getting a bit frustrated with the tablet. Love/Hate for sure
 

laika

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Aug 24, 2013
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I formatted my SD card with the note and have a 8.8GB video file on it that plays fine.

Sent from my SM-P600 using AC Forums mobile app
 

Misterb

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What happens if you put a card in the Note, format it with the Android format feature, then plug the Note into your computer with the USB cable? Does your computer see it like a hard drive, where you can move files back and forth? If so, maybe the better solution is to just leave the Android formatted card in the note and use the cable to move files. Or, better yet use something like Dropbox, and ditch cards and cables going back and forth

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dianehelen

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I formatted my SD card with the note and have a 8.8GB video file on it that plays fine.

Sent from my SM-P600 using AC Forums mobile app

How did you get that file onto the card? From a PC? What is the file system format? I just reformatted the flash drive , with the NOTE, but when look at the file system from the PC is says FAT32, I tried to copy my big file onto the microSD card that I had in the NOTE, and put it into the PC and it has the same problem.

I guess I'll now try to reformat the microSD in the Note, but Im not hopeful, unless it does something different with a card than a flash drive :(
 
Last edited:

dianehelen

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Jun 5, 2011
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I formatted my SD card with the note and have a 8.8GB video file on it that plays fine.

Sent from my SM-P600 using AC Forums mobile app



ok totally puzzled now. I just cleared my 16gb microSD, formatted it WITH the NOTE, put it back in my PC and tried to copy the same 4.75 gb file, and got the same "to large for the destination file system" error..

What am I missing here?
 

dianehelen

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Yet another example of Samsungs really below average technical support. I called regarding this file system limitation, and she comes back after a brief hold and says , it does not support the NTSB file format. I corrected her, and told her NTSB is the National Transporation Safety Bureau, and NTFS is the file system that supports larger files, she comes back, with, No, NTSB IS another type of file system. I argued, and asked where she got that (wrong) information. Her answer? A google search. OMG really? THATS where they are looking for their support answers.. ughhh VERY dissapointing..
 

laika

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Aug 24, 2013
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How did you get that file onto the card? From a PC? What is the file system format? I just reformatted the flash drive , with the NOTE, but when look at the file system from the PC is says FAT32, I tried to copy my big file onto the microSD card that I had in the NOTE, and put it into the PC and it has the same problem.

I guess I'll now try to reformat the microSD in the Note, but Im not hopeful, unless it does something different with a card than a flash drive :(

Dumped it on the SD with the desktop, fat 32 has that 4 gig limit, I thought it formated in exfat or something like that, still thought there would be a 4gig limit but I have been way above that more than once.

Sent from my SM-P600 using AC Forums mobile app
 

laika

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Aug 24, 2013
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ok totally puzzled now. I just cleared my 16gb microSD, formatted it WITH the NOTE, put it back in my PC and tried to copy the same 4.75 gb file, and got the same "to large for the destination file system" error..

What am I missing here?

Not sure, never been a issue for me, tray a different card? Fat 32 wont work, can you format with exfat with your computer?

Sent from my SM-P600 using AC Forums mobile app
 

Cobravision

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Jul 18, 2010
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Android doesn't support NTFS. It's always been that way. This is not a Note issue.

If you need >4gb file support, format the drive with exfat. You will have to do this on a PC running Windows Vista or higher.

The OS runs on fat32, so you will not be able to transfer a >4gb to internal memory. You will be able to read it of an exfat formatted external drive or microSD card.
 

dianehelen

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Jun 5, 2011
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Android doesn't support NTFS. It's always been that way. This is not a Note issue.

If you need >4gb file support, format the drive with exfat. You will have to do this on a PC running Windows Vista or higher.

The OS runs on fat32, so you will not be able to transfer a >4gb to internal memory. You will be able to read it of an exfat formatted external drive or microSD card.

ok my pc can do xfat, let me try that...
 

dianehelen

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YAY! I BOW in homage to the brilliance of this forum. Exfat WAS my answer.. now the file fits on both the flash drive AND the MicroSD and plays FINE on the NOTE! Now I can have my beloved Stones 50th anniversary concert with me at all times :)

. Sooo, I know Im reaching here.. WHY doesnt Samsung tech support know this?
 

Cobravision

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Tech Support is a misnomer. You're talking about entry level employees looking through scripted troubleshooting flowcharts. They really have no idea how to solve anything off book. I get the feeling most of them aren't very tech literate at all.

Whenever I have to reach out to tech support, I have to redo the 10 steps I already did because they have no idea how to skip ahead in their script.
 

dianehelen

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Tech Support is a misnomer. You're talking about entry level employees looking through scripted troubleshooting flowcharts. They really have no idea how to solve anything off book. I get the feeling most of them aren't very tech literate at all.

Whenever I have to reach out to tech support, I have to redo the 10 steps I already did because they have no idea how to skip ahead in their script.

Yeah, *sigh* sadly you are correct. it did not use to be that way, but I guess in a market that is just flooded with tech toys, that's just the way it is. well thank you again for helping solve my dilemma du jour :-D
 

SpookDroid

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Jul 14, 2011
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A little 'light' on the subject of 'tech support'. Most of these jobs nowadays are outsourced and most of the time even 'shipped' to other countries (haven't you ever wondered why their accents sound funny most of the time? :p). That being said, the wages payed for this type of jobs is not that high (one of the reasons they outsource, anyway), so yeah, their solutions are just a bunch of pre-written scripts. If your issue is too specific, they'll give you a random, generic answer. Why? Because the type of employee that can REALLY help you is usually not one that would take such wages and is usually doing a different job. Again, there are rare cases that will be tech-savvy and be more helpful, but most of the time these people are no longer working in tech support lines.

As for the file format, it's always been that way: NTFS is owned by Microsoft, and Android did not license it to cut down costs (this is, after all, a free OS).