2 Free FAT32 4GB Limit Workarounds [Full Guide]

About FAT32 file size limit

FAT32 is a file system that uses 32 bits of data to store and retrieve the data on storage drives like USB flash drives, SD cards and so on. Compared with exFAT and NTFS, FAT32 has a remarkable advantage: higher compatibility and stability. For instance, FAT32 can work with almost all operating systems including Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98/XP/Vista, Windows7/8/10, macOS, and Linux.

However, FAT32 is losing its edges because of its size limit on partitions and files. The maximum file size of a single file formatted with FAT32 is 4GB. That is to say, you may receive an error message saying that "The file is too large for the destination file system" when you are trying to copy or transfer a file larger than 4GB to a FAT32 formatted drive, so you may want to look for an FA32 4GB limit workaround. Another limit of FAT32 is partition size that which only supports up to 2TB volume size. To this end, you cannot format a hard drive over 2TB to FAT32.

How do I make FAT32 support more than 4GB [FAT32 4GB limit workaround]

As mentioned above, FAT32 has a limit of 4GB in size, so how to bypass FAT32 4GB limit is what we are going to discuss. Converting file system from FAT32 to NTFS is a wonderful choice because the maximum file size of NTFS is 16TB so you can store, copy and transfer large files after conversion. In the following contents, two free FAT32 4GB limit workarounds will be presented in detail.

Method 1: Convert FAT32 to NTFS via CMD

If you are worried about losing your important data when converting FAT32 file system into NTS in Windows 11/10/8/7, you can use cmd.exe tool to make it safely. Follow the two simple steps to see how it works:

Step 1: Press the Windows key and R at the same time to open the Run box, input "cmd" and hit on "enter" to open Command Prompt.

Step 2: In the pop-out window, type the command "convert drive letter: /fs:ntfs"(n refers to the number of the partition on the drive).

★Limitations:

Although this method can convert FAT32 file system into NTFS in Windows 11/10/8/7 without damaging inside data, there is no workable command to convert NTFS back to FAT32. Once you need to use FAT32 file system in the near future, what you can do with CMD is to back up the necessary data and reformat the drive to FAT32 with the command: list volume >select volume X(X is the drive you want to reformat) >format fs =fat32 quick >exit, which seems complicated and will easily cause data loss.

Method 2: Convert FAT32 to NTFS via a third-party tool

If you are a computer novice and think commands are too complex to understand, you can turn to a free partition manager named AOMEO Partition Assistant Standard. Its "NTFS to FAT32 Converter" can convert FAT32 to NTFS or convert NTFS to FAT32 in Windows 11/10/8/7 without formatting. Compared with CMD, it has the follwing edges:

Now you can free download the software and see the FAT32 4GB limit workaround:

Step 1: Install and open AOMEO Partition Assistant Standard. Right click the FAT partition, choose "Advanced" and then click "Convert to NTFS".

Step 2: In the small pop-out window, click "OK" to continue.

Step 3: Then, click "Apply" and "Proceed" to commit the operation.

Notes:✎...

Both of these two methods above won't format your drives, allowing you to keep your data safe and sound. If there is less important data on your drive, formatting the partition to NTFS is also an alternative way to bypass FAT32 4GB limit.

FAQ about FAT32

How do I know if my file system is FAT32?

To know whether your file system is FAT32 is very easy, you can check the information from the Disk Management as the following steps say:

1. Right click Window icon, and select "Disk Management".

2. In the new window, you can see FAT32 or NTFS under the File system.

After checking your file system is FAT32, you can choose to convert it into NTFS in case that you have the need of storing files larger than 4GB.

Why is FAT32 limited to 4GB?

This is because the FAT32 boot sector uses a 32-bit field for the sector count, so the maximum value for that 32-bit field is 2^32, which equals to 4 Gigabytes. Therefore, FAT32 4GB limit appears.

Conclusion

In this post, we have discussed FAT32 size limit as well as more than one effective FAT32 4GB limit workaround. Two free and safe methods have been provided in details and you can choose one of them to bypass FAT32 4GB limit as you like. As we can see, with a clean console and simple steps, AOMEI software is more available to everyone, so you can put it as your top priority.

In addition, you can upgrade it to Professional so that you can enjoy more features like allocating free space from one partition to another, migrating OS from MBR disk to GPT, and transferring data from HDD to SSD.