Importing large data sets?

[Stephen Ban <ban@zoology.ubc.ca>]

I'm trying to open/import a large (229MB) data file into S-PLUS 6.1. My 
machine has 1GB of RAM, and oodles of hard drive space. Every time I try to 
import the file, I get the error "Problem in rep.int(1:n, times): Unable to 
obtain requested dynamic memory."
Any ideas as to what I can do to get around this? SPSS v10 has no problems 
opening the same file.
Thanks,
Stephen