[plug] Nifty idea for dual booters

[Nick Bannon]

On Tue, Aug 20, 2002 at 04:10:54PM +0800, Brad Campbell wrote:
[...]
> What I do is install a windows version on it, then run norton speedisk
> to zero unused space on the partition. (Only works with 9x, XP won't let
> you do this). Boot back into linux and dd if=/dev/hda2 | gzip > blah.gz
[...]

I have done this - most handy, and of course dd is a basic tool
available even in cut-down boot systems.

If you are running dual boot, though, or use a rescue system like RIP,
you can also use Partition Image:
http://www.partimage.org/

It works on a similar level, but if it understands the filing system in
question, it will skip all the blocks marked "free". (ie pretty much
the same as zero'ing them)

Nick.

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