file roo large !!

[mess-mate]

Hi list,
this is not new I think, but it is for me.
I've searching the net without concrete results.
So, I've copied from an ext3fs a backup file ( home.tar.bz2) 
in my home dir. So long it's ok.
But now I've to cp or mv this file to a new ext3fs partition.
And I've an error message " File too large" and stops the transfer.
This file is about 24GB and 21GB are copied before the stop.
This data is very important for me.

Any help would be very appreciated.
mess-mate