Manual: 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 con‐
       tents 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 argu‐
       ment, 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 appended 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 zeroing 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 $DATA at‐
	      tribute (the contents of a plain file) will be preallocated. The attribute has to be specified by a number  in
	      decimal or hexadecimal :
	      ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
	      │ Hex	Decimal	  Name			   │
	      │ 0x10	16	  "$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 preallo‐
       cated 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/

SEE ALSO
       ntfs-3g(8), ntfstruncate(8), ntfsprogs(8), fallocate(1)

ntfs-3g 2022.10.3					  June 2014					    NTFSFALLOCATE(8)