Re: fileserver backup: ndmp or network backup?

snapshot-volume on block-level it could be clever enough to do a full
scan of the filesystem, saving information which blocks are in use by
which file

No need in this, at least in Windows. Windows has FSCTL_GET_VOLUME_BITMAP, so,
exclusion of the free blocks from the disk image is trivial and does not
require the file/dir tree walk.

I hope UNIXen also have the same kind of IOCTL. At least most UNIX filesystems
use the free space bitmap scattered across fixed well-known locations on the
volume, so, supporting such a call would be trivial.

--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation
maxim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.storagecraft.com

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