id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	priority	milestone	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc
38	Splitting large files to 4 GB pieces	Valery V. Sedletski	Valery V. Sedletski	"It is suggested a new feature, to support files larger than 4 GB, on fat32. Because the file size in FAT is limited to 32 bits, the size is limited to 4 GB (2 GB if signed. The file offset is signed 32-bit integer, so, it is limited to +-2 GB). So, the file size cannot be >= 4GB, by design. But we see a nice feature of archivers to split files to some size, or VirtualPC can split a *.vhd file to multiple 2 GB pieces. So, why not add a feature of splitting files to 2 or 4 GB pieces into the fat32 FS driver itself? All pieces could be listed in a special *.dsc file, a simple text file with a filename per line. So that, the IFS will hide all pieces, but show a full concatenated file instead, plus the file  with the same name and a "".dsc"" suffix added. If you delete the *.dsc file, the file becomes a set of separate pieces again, and if you recreate it, the file is shown concatenated. The *.dsc file can be easily recreated by a simple command ""dir somefile.* >somefile.dsc"". Also, if you copying a large file to a FAT32 partition, it gets automatically splitted to a set of 4 GB pieces with default names, plus a *.dsc file created. But the file names are not limited to default ones. So, you can rename them as you wish, and change the *.dsc file accordingly.

What do you think? I would be very happy with such feature, having possibility to copy the VM files and big movies to my 1 TB USB FAT32 hard disk, which I use for backup purposes. Also, I'll be able to use these files directly from this disk, without the need to copy them elsewhere. And, if I carried this harddisk to users of other OS'es, I can simply copy pieces to a 64-bit file system, like NTFS, and concatenate them with a simple command, like copy /b ...
"	enhancement	assigned	minor	Future	IFS		medium		large big piece split