I have an idea for a disk image format: suppose we create a disk image
that contains a bunch of 32-bit unsigned integers in the beginning - one
for each 4KB cluster of the ACTUAL hard disk. Each entry could specify
which offset in the file that corresponding cluster's data can be found
at. That way, each disk image could appear to be 30GB if you have a 30GB
hard disk, and the file would simply grow as needed. Only problem: what
if the user formats all 30GB?
Wouter Coene wrote:
>
> According to Paul te Bokkel ([EMAIL PROTECTED]):
> > BTW: did anyone investigate the VMWare disk-format to some
> > extent? It seems to be a normal image, apart from the inital lead.
> > Would be rather nice to be able to use VMWare disks... ;-)
>
> No, the VMWare disk format is a sparse-format, meaning that it doesn't store
> disk blocks that have never been written before, thus making the disk image
> smaller.
>
> You can't 'mount' the disk-image with the standard UNIX tools too; you need
> a special VMWare program for that.
>
> Wouter Coene
> --
> * Wouter Coene * C/PHP3/TCL/Shell scripting *
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> *"First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you.*
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