ntfsfallocate

NTFSFALLOCATE(8) System Manager's Manual NTFSFALLOCATE(8)

NAME

   ntfsfallocate - preallocate space to a file on an NTFS volume

SYNOPSIS

   ntfsfallocate [options] -l length device file [attr-type [attr-name]]

DESCRIPTION

   ntfsfallocate preallocates space for any attribute of a file or directory, thus reserving space before actual contents is written. This is similar to fallocate(1).

OPTIONS

   Below  is a summary of all the options that ntfsfallocate accepts.  Nearly all options have two equivalent names.  The short name is preceded by - and the long name is preceded by --.
   Any single letter options, that don't take an argument, can be combined into a single command, e.g.  -fv is equivalent to -f -v.  Long named options can be abbreviated to  any  unique
   prefix of their name.

   -f, --force
          This will override some sensible defaults, such as not using a mounted volume.  Use this option with caution.

   -h, --help
          Show a list of options with a brief description of each one.

   -l, --length LENGTH
          This  is  a mandatory option to specify the number of bytes to preallocate.  It will be rounded up to a multiple of the cluster size.  A suffix of K, M, G, T, P or E may be ap‐
          pended to mean a multiplicative factor of a power of 1000. Similarly a suffix of Ki, Mi, Gi, Ti, Pi or Ei may be appended to mean a multiplicative factor of a power of 1024.

   -n, --no-size-change
          Do not change the apparent size of the file. The space allocated beyond the apparent size is not zeroed, but subsequent writing beyond the apparent end of file will force zero‐
          ing the inner allocated space as it cannot be considered as a hole any more, and this may take significant time.

   -N, --no-action
          Simulate the allocation without actually write to device.

   -o, --offset OFFSET
          Specify the offset in the file where preallocation starts. By default, the preallocation is counted from the beginning of the file. Space already allocated in the area  defined
          by offset and length is preserved.

   -q, --quiet
          Suppress some debug/warning/error messages.

   -v, --verbose
          Display more debug/warning/error messages.

   -V, --version
          Show the version number, copyright and license of ntfsfallocate.

   attr-type
          Define a particular attribute type to be preallocated (advanced use only).  By default, the unnamed $DATA attribute (the contents of a plain file) will be preallocated. The at‐
          tribute has to be specified by a number in decimal or hexadecimal :
          ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
          │ Hex     Decimal   Name                     │
          │ 0x10    16        "$STANDARD_INFORMATION"  │
          │ 0x20    32        "$ATTRIBUTE_LIST"        │
          │ 0x30    48        "$FILE_NAME"             │
          │ 0x40    64        "$OBJECT_ID"             │
          │ 0x50    80        "$SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR"   │
          │ 0x60    96        "$VOLUME_NAME"           │
          │ 0x70    112       "$VOLUME_INFORMATION"    │
          │ 0x80    128       "$DATA"                  │
          │ 0x90    144       "$INDEX_ROOT"            │
          │ 0xA0    160       "$INDEX_ALLOCATION"      │
          │ 0xB0    176       "$BITMAP"                │
          │ 0xC0    192       "$REPARSE_POINT"         │
          │ 0xD0    208       "$EA_INFORMATION"        │
          │ 0xE0    224       "$EA"                    │
          │ 0xF0    240       "$PROPERTY_SET"          │
          │ 0x100   256       "$LOGGED_UTILITY_STREAM" │
          └────────────────────────────────────────────┘

   attr-name
          Define the name of the particular attribute type to be preallocated (advanced use only).

EXAMPLES

   Preallocate 100MB to the file database.db located in the Data directory which is at the root of an NTFS file system.

          ntfsfallocate -l 100M /dev/sda1 Data/database.db

BUGS

   There are no known problems with ntfsfallocate, however it can lead to configurations not supported by Windows and Windows may crash (BSOD) when writing to preallocated clusters which
   were not written to earlier. Files with preallocated space should be fully be written to before they are updated by Windows.

   If you find a bug in ntfsfallocate proper, please send an email describing the problem to the development team:
   ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net

AUTHORS

   ntfsfallocate was written by Jean-Pierre Andre.

AVAILABILITY

   ntfsfallocate is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:
   https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g/wiki/