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 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 attribute (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 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:
       http://www.tuxera.com/community/

SEE ALSO

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