dd imaging problems...

[Johnb175]

ok I followed the guide in the docs on how to dump an image of a drive to a remote window share. I've got two problems. One, when dumping the image I cannot create a file over 2gb. The machine I am dumping to is runnin xp pro and using ntfs. I know that it can handle files over 2gb. Secondly, if somehow I can make one large image how can I open that image on any windows machine and extract data out of it? I am trying to find a replacement for symantec ghost and I would think using knoppix I could accomplish this task. Any help would be greatly appreciated...

JohnB

[eco2geek]

There was another post in here about using "dd" to image a hard disk to a remote share where the poster also ran into a wall at 2GB. They were saving it to a FAT32 partition, which has a filesize limitation of ~4GB. The generally accepted answer given was that they'd run into a FAT32 filesize limitation, which I think is incorrect.

Googling didn't provide a definitive answer, but there were some links that said the ext2 file system has a 2GB limitation, and other links that said that limitation was a thing of the past. So my guess is that either:

dd is writing a temporary file to your Linux system, and that's where you're running into a 2GB limit; or
It has something to do with the networking software.

It would be very interesting to know the "right" answer.

As far as the Windows side goes, take a look at WinImage (http://www.winimage.com). It's really meant for floppy images and the like, but it may be able to open your saved drive image.