"Insufficient Space on Target Volume" Error Message Moving a Folder with SBS Move Folder Wizard (249213)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 4.5
This article was previously published under Q249213

SYMPTOMS

When you try to move a folder by using the Move Folder Wizard, you may receive the following error message:
Insufficient space on target volume.
Also, you may receive this error message even though there is sufficient free space on the destination drive.

CAUSE

The problem can occur because of an overflow error. The variable type used for the free drive space is a DWORD. This variable type has an upper limit of 4294967296. If the amount of free space on the drive is larger than this number (4 gigabytes, 4096 megabytes, or more) the value is truncated, resulting in a smaller value.

For example, a drive with 4100 megabytes (MB) of free space will appear to have approximately 4-MB of free space. The same process occurs at approximately 8-GB, 12-GB, and so on when the overflow re-occurs.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem:
  1. Create a temporary folder on the destination drive.
  2. Copy the source folder to the temporary folder on the destination drive by using Windows Explorer.
  3. After the folder is copied, use the SBS Move Folder Wizard to move the original source folder on the source drive to the destination drive.
  4. Delete the temporary folder on the destination drive to free disk space.
NOTE: Making a temporary copy of the folder on the destination drive forces the free space on the destination drive to drop below the DWORD upper limit. For example, a drive with 4100-MB of free space will appear to the wizard to have approximately 4-MB of free space. If you are trying to move a 10-MB folder with the wizard it will not work. If you first make a copy of this folder on the destination drive, the free space drops to 4090-MB, which is within the range of a DWORD variable.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:1/13/2000
Keywords:kberrmsg kbprb KB249213
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.