NTFS Sparse Files support

[jsmiddleton4]

Never sure where to ask questions like this.

How do we use this option to our advantage?

I'm thinking it only impacts storage attached to the router. And that storage need be formatted in NTFS? Or does any format still use the sparse file thing?

Does storing files to that USB attached storage then automatically use less space by following a sparse file storage structure?

 

[RMerlin]

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

This option only applies to NTFS.

This is mostly useful if you frequently store very large files to disk, especially when using torrents or remote backups.

 

[Quint]

Apologies for digging up old threads, and being contradictory and/or ignorant.
It looks like sparse files, by definition from microsoft, are files with large amount of "empty" data. mostly zeros.
Also, it appears that if there is a large drive, it may be seen as "dirty" according to this thread: http://www.snbforums.com/threads/wd-4tb-unmounted.21094/

Also, it appears that tntfs (the driver in asuswrt for ntfs) may not be called correctly?
"tntfs error (device sdc2, pid 1327): parse_options(): Unrecognized mount option sparse."

 

[steven168]

how size is consider very large files?

i have many single file size that is 1 to 2 gb.

i also have some file that is 4gb or 8gb single file.

the largest i have so far is 30gb but only 3

 

[Quint]

MSDN doesn't specify what is considered "large". I would assume the function/feature is for condensing the zero's and saving space, but is not a required feature.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365564(v=vs.85).aspx

However, if you see this message in your logs, i would imagine the feature is not implemented correctly.
"parse_options(): Unrecognized mount option sparse"