I cannot copy from my macbook to any external drive

Anytime I try to copy files from my macbook (G4 model OSX 10.5.8) to any external drive or flash drive it keeps telling me it is full. I have one ready mac formatted drive that has already backed up another macbook. there is space on the drive, but even trying to drop on a few K file I get an error message telling me it cannot copy it over as there is not enough space. I get this on other drives even if I re-format them in any of the mac formats.
I have formatted external drives from this system ok, except one would not reformat from dos file system to anything else. I have now borrowed an iomega drive I know works with an identical macbook but still get the same error. I have checked permissions etc. It will not let me see the size of the drive so am unsure if there is a problem with this drive. However, no matter what I use I still get the same error and it's driving me mad as I cannot do a back up at all. Anyone else seen this before?

aliensurfer said:

Anytime I try to copy files from my macbook (G4 model OSX 10.5.8) to any external drive or flash drive it keeps telling me it is full.

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What Mac do you have? If a Macbook it uses an Intel processor, not a PPC G4. If it is a G4, then it could be a white iBook G4 or aluminium Powerbook G4, faster models of both are capable of running 10.5.8.

techiesteve said:

What Mac do you have? If a Macbook it uses an Intel processor, not a PPC G4. If it is a G4, then it could be a white iBook G4 or aluminium Powerbook G4, faster models of both are capable of running 10.5.8.

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Unless I misread something PowerPC vs. Intel is not an issue here. The OP's post that you quoted indicates that he/she is already running 10.5.8. Both versions of that OS (Intel or PPC) be able to do the task.

Sorry, yes I mis-typed it, it is an ibook- it's a G4 1.33ghz model. It's running the OS noted. the only way I can copy files to anything is to burn a CD - which given the amount I need to back up is a bit inpractical. I haven't seen this before on a Mac. There is a chance the Mac is faulty in some way but it's a strange one. Thanks for pointing out it's not a macbook.

I am not sure what is causing this problem. Don't think I have ever seen this before. A couple of questions come to mind:

1. Have you added any software/made other changes to the system recently? In other words has something changed between now and when things were working.

2. Is your mac having any other issues or does this seem to be the only problem?

Hi, thanks for the reply again.

1/ no, nothing new - this is the mother in law's old ibook, nothing new has been put on for ages, she just wants her files copied off it so I can blank it for her to pass on to her brother)

2/ No this seems to be the only issue, and it cuts cd's without a problem.

It's a weird one, I've never seen it before, and I've been working with them for 16yrs or so. It's puzzling. It will be interesting to see if once I have the work backed up and the machine blanked and a clean OS installe if the error persists.

How are the externals and Flash drives formatted?