Re: new feature for gnu parted OR a new project: backup fat/ntfs-infos

[Szakacsits Szabolcs]

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005, ab wrote:

> i have/had a very good idea for a new tool (for fat32/ntfs):
> 
> store all the meta-information (full path+filename, filesize,
> time/date would already be enough, perhaps crc's for blocks/whole
> files???) of a filesystem, in a file on linux (while windows is not
> running), and store also the sequence of the positions on the hard
> disk where the actual data-clusters are stored.

I've written such a Linux tool for NTFS, well over two years ago:

        ntfsclone --metadata --output ntfs-metadata.img <partition>

One can loopback mount and see everything on the metadata image.

> If the fat gets overwritten or windows crashes the directory structure
> on the filesystem, I have a lot better chances to restore some files
> from linux with this information!! (as long as the files haven't moved
> on the disk)

Simple ntfsclone is better, usually preferably with the --save-image
option: the backup isn't mountable but it can be efficiently streamed for
compression, encryption, via network, etc. It depends on the scenarios.

But what do these do with Parted?
 
        Szaka