cj7hawk
Veteran Member
OK, here's an unusual question... Can large files be broken up into smaller sparse files on different disks, and then be rejoined by simply PIP'ing them back together?
I am guessing the behaviour given PIP will just overwrite a file is that it respects the extent number and mask and will just add a sparse entry to a large disk rather than doing anything to the existing sparse entries, and as long as the records themselves are not rewritten, it should even be possible for sparse records to be blocked/deblocked into an existing sector containing some sparse blocks and some unassigned blocks.
So, if you had a particularly large file, it should be possible to simply break it up and write it to smaller disks, then reconstitute it later.
The only question then is whether PIP will recognize sparse files as a "Dearchiving" tool.
I am guessing the behaviour given PIP will just overwrite a file is that it respects the extent number and mask and will just add a sparse entry to a large disk rather than doing anything to the existing sparse entries, and as long as the records themselves are not rewritten, it should even be possible for sparse records to be blocked/deblocked into an existing sector containing some sparse blocks and some unassigned blocks.
So, if you had a particularly large file, it should be possible to simply break it up and write it to smaller disks, then reconstitute it later.
The only question then is whether PIP will recognize sparse files as a "Dearchiving" tool.