http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparse_file


On Fri, 2008-02-15 at 19:08 -0500, Randy Barlow wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > I spent time about a year ago looking into good encryption.  At that
> >...
....
> it makes a file that reports itself to be 1 GB long by ls -l, but
> doesn't seem to write 1 GB to the disk.  Also, df doesn't report 1 GB
> less than before you run the command.
> 
> What's happening here?  I had assumed before I did this that the output
> of ls -l is the actual number of bits consumed by a file, but that
> doesn't seem to be the case anymore.
> 
> I created a file using the second command, and now as I copy files into
> it I can see the disk space going down bit by bit.  This is really what
> I wanted in the first place, but I am just confused as to what is really
> going on.  Could anybody explain, please?
> 
> -- 
> Randy Barlow
> http://electronsweatshop.com
-- 
William Kenworthy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Home in Perth!
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