General :: Disk Based Text Editor To Edit File Larger Than Memory?

I am using Ubuntu and looking for a good editor to edit a file that is > 4GB. I just need to put content at the end and beginning of the file. I suppose I could use something like

cat "text to add" >> huge_file

To append to the file. Is that the route to go? What about prepending? In general, what is the best route if I wanted to edit somewhere in the middle?

I've tried VIM and it fails miserably. I assume emacs and nano would be even worse. What else is there? I assume to accomplish what I am looking for, the editor would have to be specifically designed for this by not keeping the entirety of the file's contents in memory.