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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
September 10, 2006
Q.
I have a 1 GB USB Jump drive that shows that
it has less than 200 MB on it. Yet, every
time I try to add more files I get a "Disk
Full" error message. What is the problem and
why can't I add more files?
A.
You have run into an old problem that
irritated users years ago with the floppy
disk. You do remember floppies don't you?
The problem stems from the old DOS Fat
filling system, and is made worse when long
file names are used.
The fat
file system, which is still used on almost
all USB Jump drives, has a limit on how many
entries (file names) the root directory
(folder) can hold. Depending on the
device, this limit can be anything between
224 to 510. When this limit is reached, the
USB jump drive will indicate that it is
full, regardless of how many bytes of data
is actually holds.
Before
Windows 95, file names were limited to the
old DOS 8.3 format, meaning there were only
allowed 8 characters before the dot, and 3
after it. Since Windows 95, file names can
be up to 256 characters long and the
extensions no longer limited to just 3.
However, in order for the FAT file system to
handle long filenames, it has to use two
root directory entries to hold the long file
name. This cuts the number of allowed
entries (file names) in half.
So, your
problem is occurring not because you have
filled up the USB Jump drive, but because
you have filled up all the allowed entries
in the root directory. The solution is
simple. Create a sub folder on the USB jump
drive. A folder, like a file name, uses only
one or two entry spaces, and there is no
limit on how many entries there can be in a
subfolder, other than the capacity of the
drive.
Temporarily move a couple of files from the
jump drive, then create a sub folder on it.
(You won't be able to create a sub folder
while the drive indicates it is full). Move
all the rest of the files on the Jump drive
into this newly created folder. Now you will
be able to add more files to the USB Jump
drive. To prevent having to deal with
this same problem in the future, put
additional added files into other folders
that you created on the Jump drive.
Q.
What is RSS?
A.
RSS can stand for many different things,
but I suspect you are referring to the RSS
one sees with reference to the computer
and web pages. Here the RSS stands for
Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site
Summary or RDF Site Summary, which are
several similar forms of web syndication
used by news websites and weblogs.
It is
a family of web feed formats specified
in XML (Extensible Markup Language) used
for Web syndication. RSS delivers its
information as an XML file called an "RSS
feed", "webfeed", "RSS stream", or "RSS
channel". These RSS feeds provide a way
for users to passively (without any
action on their part) receive newly
released content such as text, web
pages, sound files, or other media. This
might be the full content itself or just
a link to it, possibly with a summary or
other data describing the content.
In a
nutshell, a content provider publishes a
feed link on their web site or in an
email or Chat session. End users have a
special program called an aggregator
that is installed and running on their
computer. They use this aggregator to
access these feed links. Then,
periodically typically every 60 minutes
or every day, or how ever often the user
might choose to check,
the aggregator program asks all the
servers in its RSS feed list if they
have new content. If so, the aggregator
either makes a note of the new content
or downloads it for you to view. It is a
form of what used to be called (pushing
data). Internet Explorer V7 will better
support RSS feeds than the current
browser does.
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