Some filesystems can't handle particularly large files. e.g. ISO 9660, used to store data on DVDs, has a 4Gb or 2Gb limit, depending on implementation.
To split a large file into smaller files:
split -b 1G -d [filename] [filename].
This will split the file into smaller files 1G in size, using a numerical suffix.
Example:
steph@slap ~ $ split -b 1G -d test.tgz test.tgz. steph@slap ~ $ ls -lh total 8G -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 4.0G Sep 5 15:29 test.tgz -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 1.0G Sep 5 18:09 test.tgz.00 -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 1.0G Sep 5 18:13 test.tgz.01 -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 1.0G Sep 5 18:17 test.tgz.02 -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 1.0G Sep 5 18:20 test.tgz.03
Join them back again:
cat [filename].* > [filename]
Example:
steph@slap ~ $ cat test.tgz.* > test.tgz steph@slap ~ $ ls -lh total 8G -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 4.0G Sep 5 18:41 test.tgz -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 1.0G Sep 5 18:09 test.tgz.00 -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 1.0G Sep 5 18:13 test.tgz.01 -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 1.0G Sep 5 18:17 test.tgz.02 -rwxrwx--- 1 steph users 1.0G Sep 5 18:20 test.tgz.03
