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)