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WofCompress tool for Win7 - Win10

compress native compression xpress4k xpress8k xpress16k lzx

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#1 alacran

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Posted 24 April 2019 - 10:39 AM

WofCompress tool for Win7 - Win10 from JFX:

 

This tool is very useful to compress/recompress files/folders with the new (since 10 launch) compression formats: Compact: XPRESS4K, XPRESS8K, XPRESS16K or LZX that can run directly from the compressed files/folders and are decompressed on the fly, this files are loaded to ram as any usuall file, and unless there is a change on a file as a new update, they will remain unchange (compressed) on the disk.

 

How it works: The Compression is made file by file, not as when making a *.wim, *.7z, *.rar , or *.zip file where all files/folders are contained into a single container file.

 

Requirements: Win10 support this natively, but it may also be used starting from Win7 when wofadk.sys is installed and running, this is made automatically on this OSs the first time you run WinNTSetup and it downloads some files/folders from MS servers.

 

Benefits: Higher compression levels than old NTFS compression, and there is no fragmentation, contrary to the very high fragmentation made by old NTFS compression.

 

From Post No. 3:

 

 

Only on 10 and only on default XPRESS4K compression if you select the option always during compression with the compact.exe app (included on 10) all new files will be recompressed.

This do not apply on any other compression level or on 7 and 8.x, that's why the WofCompress tool for Win7 - Win10 from JFX is required from time to time to ReCompress some directory or some files as you need, or the OS if you made a Compact mode install using WinNTSetup.

 

 

Page with link to download the WofCompress tool for Win7 - Win10 from JFX (Program for Compress or recompress 7, 8.x and 10): https://msfn.org/boa...comment=1162805

Usage: https://msfn.org/boa...comment=1162857
 

 

Well first make sure the installation has the wof driver installed.
Best if you have installed that system with any of WinNTSetups compact option.

Than start the compression:

WofCompress -c:LZX -path:C:\

It will automatically use the exclusion list in WimBootReCompress.ini that WinNTSetup has placed in Windows\System32 folder.

 

You can also use it to just compress any folder, if you want:

WofCompress -c:LZX -a -path:D:\Programs

 

This is what you see when running the program:

 

 

WofCompress [Options] /Path:(path)

Options:

/c: {XPRESS4K | XPRESS8K | XPRESS16K | LZX}

/U - uncompress all files

/f - force compression, if compressed with diferent algorithm

/a - compress all, ignore exclusions

/wbc:¨custom exclusion ini}

/pathisroot

 

NOTE 1: If we have blank spaces on the path, we need to put the path into double quotes.

 

I don't think there is something better and compatible with WinNTSetup.

 

NOTE 3: This post has been edited to include additional relevant info from following posts.

 

EDIT: Wofadk Script for ChrisPE project and PEBakery builder: http://reboot.pro/topic/22021-wofadk/

alacran


Edited by alacran, 13 May 2019 - 05:58 AM.


#2 wimb

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Posted 25 April 2019 - 11:36 AM

I guess it must be WimBootCompress.ini instead of WimBootReCompress.ini

 

Does this tool give a lot of fragmentation like NTFS compression is doing ?

 

Win7 fails for me in case of VHD_WIMBOOT. It does not have the wof.sys driver.

 

VHD_WIMBOOT works OK for Win 8.1 and 10



#3 alacran

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Posted 25 April 2019 - 01:08 PM

@ wimb

 

 

I guess it must be WimBootCompress.ini instead of WimBootReCompress.ini

 

Author said WimBootReCompress.ini on his post, see:  https://msfn.org/boa...comment=1162857

 

AFAIK it is same or equivalent to WimBootCompress.ini and same content but WimBootCompress.ini is created during WinNTSetup installs on Wimboot mode and WimBootReCompress.ini is created during WinNTSetup installs on Compress mode, if there is not a previous version of one of them on Windows\System32 folder, if there exist a previous version it will be updated to include the contend of WimBootCompress.ini located on WinNTSetup\Tools folder.

 

 

Does this tool give a lot of fragmentation like NTFS compression is doing ?

 

Suposedly not since it is another different (higher) compression tool (it appeared the first time with 10) and using all your CPU cores not like NTFS v1 Compress since XP that only uses a single CPU core and a very low compression.

 

 

Win7 fails for me in case of VHD_WIMBOOT. It does not have the wof.sys driver.

 

Yes it does not have the wof.sys driver but WinNTSetup installs on Win7 the Wofadk.sys driver (from 10 ADK) during Wimboot or Compact mode installs (the driver is located on WinNTSetup\Tools\x64 or x86\DISM folder).

 

If you don't want to make a Compact install at the moment but want to make it ready for compress it latter, select Compact:NONE

 

 

VHD_WIMBOOT works OK for Win 8.1 and 10

 

The wof.sys driver appeared for the first time on 8.1 update 1

 

Compact mode installs appeared for the first time on 10 having XPRESS4K compression as default, but using WinNTSetup you can make Compress mode installs of 7 and 8.x even with higher compression.

 

Using WinNTSetup I have made Win7 and 8.x Wimboot installs on VHD and also Compress installs XPRESS4K, XPRESS8K and XPRESS16K, only case I haven't tested is Compress LZX on Win7 and 8.x

 

Only on 10 and only on default XPRESS4K compression if you select the option always during compression with the compact.exe app (included on 10) all new files will be recompressed.

EDIT: Only valid for files under OS Directory.

 

The Win10 compact.exe app supports the following command line switches and options. (Source: https://winaero.com/...rs-windows-10/)

Spoiler

 

This do not apply on any other compression level or on 7 and 8.x, that's why the WofCompress tool for Win7 - Win10 from JFX is required from time to time to ReCompress some directory or some files as you need, or the OS if you made a Compact mode install using WinNTSetup.

 

I never used WofCompress tool from JFX before and so far I can't make it run on Win7 yet.

My 7x64 has WimBootCompress.ini, Wofadk.sys driver installed and the service is running as tested by opening a command as administrator and running net start wofadk, to make sure the service is running.

 

I need to try more carefully and try some other options and test it with an smaller folder first, maybe I need to give it more time to do its work since on the command screen I can see the Wofadk.sys driver version and a time counter but the counter is not doing anything, it remains in Zero, same as CPU use on Task Manager.

 

alacran



#4 wimb

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Posted 25 April 2019 - 02:39 PM

Thanks for interesting Info  :)

 

I will try to use wofadk.sys driver for Win7 WIMBOOT



#5 alacran

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Posted 25 April 2019 - 03:59 PM

Well, I found what was my problem on WofCompress: Blank spaces on Path.

 

I was trying to compress an installed game and was using:

 

WofCompress -c:XPRESS8K -a -path:J:\Program Files (x86)\Rise of Nations Gold

 

After thinking a little I decided the blank spaces was the problem and then try this way:

 

WofCompress -c:XPRESS8K -a -path:"J:\Program Files (x86)\Rise of Nations Gold"

 

It worked fine this time.

 

So if we have blank spaces on path, we need to put the path into double quotes.

 

This folder was 1.14 GB before XPRESS8K Compression, now the program reports a reduction of 374 MB and it was made in 2:33 minutes, See attached picture.

 

Also used LZX compression option on the copy of original folder I kept on another partition.

 

WofCompress -c:LZX -f -a -path:"D:\Rise of Nations Gold"

 

This time the program reports a reduction of 464 MB and it was made in 5:07 minutes, See attached picture.

 

 

alacran

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#6 alacran

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Posted 25 April 2019 - 05:57 PM

@ wimb

 

 

Does this tool give a lot of fragmentation like NTFS compression is doing ?

 

I applied XPRESS8K Compression to 3 old installed games just to see how this tool works, starting size was 9.5 GB and saved more than 2 GB in just a few minutes, and now the 3 games can run directly from the compressed files/folders and are decompressed on the fly and loaded to ram as usuall, and unless there is a change on a file as a new update, they will remain unchange.

All files were not fragmented before compression, cheked by WinContig, and after compression cheked again and not a single file was fragmented.

 

One thing I noticed is on Win7 each one of the 3 folders properties looks the same size and size on disk before and after compression, but on drive properties used and free space has changed.

 

If I check each one of the 3 folders properties during running Win10, each folder size is the same but folder size on disk is a lot of smaller.

 

NOTE: All compressed files with this tool or new Compact.exe included on Win10, can not be opened or readed from Win7 or Win8.0 unless wofadk.sys driver is installed and active on the OS, so be carefull if you try to share folders compressed  with this tools on your LAN, to solve this, only install WinNTSetup on the not compatible PC and when it downloads required files/folders for WinNTSetup it downloads and installs wofadk.sys driver on that OS, now reboot and if you want to confirm wofadk.sys was installed properly open a command window as administrator and run net start wofadk, just to make sure the service is running.

 

alacran



#7 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 25 April 2019 - 06:47 PM

So if we have blank spaces on path, we need to put the path into double quotes.

You mean like in *any* command line *ever* issued on *any* Microsoft OS since the dawn of time? :dubbio:

Space is the default command line interpreter separator.

:duff:
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#8 alacran

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Posted 25 April 2019 - 06:47 PM

I made a .wim image of my Win7x64 partition in order to run a test installing it in an expandable VHD (15 GB max. size) Compact XPRESS16K and had some problems the first boot.

 

If you have this files on your system, they need to be added to WimBootCompress.ini
[PrepopulateList]
\Windows\System32\pwdrvio.sys
\Windows\System32\pwdspio.sys
\Windows\System32\pwNative.exe 

NOTE: after additional tests found it is not necessary to add this line.

 

In my case they are from and old install of Partition Wizard that was uninstalled some time ago, but this files remained on Windows\System32, and for an unknown reason are loaded during boot, and if they are compressed the PC can't boot, in fact I had booting issues with the first one pwdrvio.sys and after looking it on Windows\System32 found the other two from same program and decided it was better to include all of them just in case.
 

EDIT: Since Partition Wizard was uninstalled I do not need/want this files on my Windows\System32, so I deleted them on the VHD and also on the everyday OSs, and rebooted both without any issue, so I can confirm it is safe to delete them if they are not going to be used anymore.  Then after files deletion, they can also be removed from WimBootCompress.ini if you want.

alacran



#9 alacran

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Posted 25 April 2019 - 06:49 PM

You mean like in *any* command line *ever* issued on *any* Microsoft OS since the dawn of time? :dubbio:

Space is the default command line interpreter separator.

:duff:
Wonko

 

To be precise: Yes



#10 wimb

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 10:35 AM

Yes it does not have the wof.sys driver but WinNTSetup installs on Win7 the Wofadk.sys driver (from 10 ADK) during Wimboot or Compress mode installs (the driver is located on WinNTSetup\Tools\x64 or x86\DISM folder).

 

VHD WIMBOOT of Win 7x64 is working now OK.

 

WinNTSetup has Installed the wofadk.sys driver.

After Install of all Drivers and Windows Update, then I used VHD_WIMBOOT to Capture and Apply to new VHD.

The used size of of the VHD is 650 MB and files WimBootCompress.ini and WimBootReCompress.ini are both present. 

 

25 GB VHD FILEDISK and 4 GB VHD RAMDISK

 

Attached File  W7x64NL_WimBoot_2019-04-26_081652.png   518.9KB   2 downloads == Attached File  W7x64-RAM-2019-04-26_134049.png   627.41KB   1 downloads



#11 alacran

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 01:14 PM

Good, I'm glad you were able to make it.

Talking a little about our *.wim image files:

As an example my everyday OS Win7x64 8 GB RAM, with all programs and System Managed Pagefile of 8 GB on HD is 26.9 GB (Games and Documents are on another partition), I made a wimboot *.wim LZX Compressed image of 6.66 GB.

Wimboot *.wim image = Triple pourpose: it can be used for standard uncompress [backup/redeploy] install, Compact install and Wimboot install on HD or VHD.

Latter used it to make a Compact XPRESS16K install (filedisk) on an expandable VHD (15 GB max. size), where pagefile is disabled, it is using now only 10 GB and it is able to open/run all my documents and games located on another partition, games are now Compacted XPRESS8K.

alacran



#12 wimb

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 01:22 PM

 

All files were not fragmented before compression, cheked by WinContig, and after compression cheked again and not a single file was fragmented.

 

 

Sure there is no file fragmentation, but after using WofCompress there is disk fragmentation



#13 alacran

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 01:37 PM

Sure there is no file fragmentation, but after using WofCompress there is disk fragmentation

 

What I did is verify each one of the 3 subdirectories with Wincontig before and after the use of WofCompress, never cheked the partition/volume, since I already know it is fragmented with so many tests.

 

EDIT: Also on a previous test with NTFS compression on a subdirectory did same check of the subdirectory and after the compression it was highly fragmented.

 

Also since you are reducing the size used by a folder it is reasonable to expect some disk fragmentation, wich is the usual state of any HD, but this is not a problem anymore to grub4dos since long time ago on v0.4.6a



#14 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 01:55 PM

OK, now both of you have to explain to me what is the difference (possibly with layman examples) among:
1) file fragmentation
2) disk fragmentation
3) partition/volume fragmentation

 

It seems to me pretty binary, either a file is fragmented or it is not (or if you prefer a file is either contiguous or it is not).

A disk (the real, whole thing, i.e. the \\.\Physicaldrive) cannot be fragmented if it is partitioned.

A partition/volume can be fragmented only if one or more files in it are fragmented [1] (EDIT: See wimb's reply below, we can consider free space as an unlisted/unindexed  file and the lack of its consolidation, i.e. it not being a single or a few large contiguous chunks is a form of volume fragmentation :thumbsup: ) 

:duff:
Wonko

 

[1] there is the exception in NTFS of the possible fragmentation of filesystem metadata, but allow me to doubt that either of you have checked those.

 

As a side-side note, since we are talking of smallish ( a handful of GB sized) virtual disks/filesystem, to maximize the contiguity of the free space there is still this approach /when creating/formatting the volume):

http://reboot.pro/to...disk-emulation/



#15 wimb

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 01:55 PM

But what you want is to gain unfragmented FREE Space ..... and what you get is fragmented FREE Space.

 

You can gain unfragmented FREE Space when after using WofCompress you copy the files to another drive or use a tool like Defraggler



#16 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 01:59 PM

I see now :), you mean consolidation of the filesystem free space *like*:

https://serverfault....ows-server-2012

 

:duff:

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#17 alacran

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 02:27 PM

@ wimb

 

But what you want is to gain unfragmented FREE Space ..... and what you get is fragmented FREE Space.

 

 

AFAIK all files are written to HDDs always randomly, it means each file may be contiguous, but the content of a folder may be splitted on all the HDD, using any free physical location.

 

And it seems to me same procedure applies to SSDs too, or even worst since the internal software is always trying to equalize the use of each cluster/sector or equivalent on SSDs.

 

In conclusion: you never have contiguous free space on a NTFS partition/volume since the begining because when you partition and format it, the FAT(s) MFT(s) are not located at the begining of the partition.

 

EDIT: on NTFS there is MFT not FAT, but anyway there is always some metadata located not at the begining of the partition.

 

So to get what you want require always further procedures.

 

alacran


Edited by alacran, 27 April 2019 - 10:11 AM.


#18 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 03:09 PM

 

In conclusion: you never have contiguous free space on a partition/volume since the begining because when you partition and format it, the FAT(s) are not located at the begining of the partition.

 

There are NO FATs on a NTFS volume. :frusty:

And FATs, on FAT 12/16/32 (and I believe also on FAT64/exFAT) are ALWAYS at the beginning of the volume in a single contiguous chunk.

 

A method/approach has just been posted to maximize the contiguity of free space chunks at format time, consolidation of free space should do the rest (as much as possible).

 

The wear-leveling mechanism (as well as over-provisioning) in modern flash/SSD is completely and entirely transparent to the filesystem and OS, i.e. what the OS/filesystem sees as sector  #12345 may be actually stored on the SSD to either physical sector #12345, or to sector #42 or to sector #87968, etc.

 

:duff:

Wonko



#19 wimb

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 03:48 PM

==> ==>

 

Disk usage Before ==> and After WofCompress ==> and After Defraggler

 

May be WofCompress is doing rather good, but there is quite some fragmentation of FREE Space

 

I will compare with NTFS Compression which might be worse in this respect ....



#20 alacran

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 05:26 PM

@ Wonko

 

There are NO FATs on a NTFS volume. :frusty:

And FATs, on FAT 12/16/32 (and I believe also on FAT64/exFAT) are ALWAYS at the beginning of the volume in a single contiguous chunk.

 

A method/approach has just been posted to maximize the contiguity of free space chunks at format time, consolidation of free space should do the rest (as much as possible).

 

The wear-leveling mechanism (as well as over-provisioning) in modern flash/SSD is completely and entirely transparent to the filesystem and OS, i.e. what the OS/filesystem sees as sector  #12345 may be actually stored on the SSD to either physical sector #12345, or to sector #42 or to sector #87968, etc.

 

:duff:

Wonko

 

My mistake, yes on NTFS there is MFT (Master File Table), not FAT (File Alocation Table), FAT is on Fat 12/16/32 etc.

 

About:

 

 

And FATs, on FAT 12/16/32 (and I believe also on FAT64/exFAT) are ALWAYS at the beginning of the volume in a single contiguous chunk.

 

No, they are not, I remember having problems with FAT32 formated USB sticks when trying bo boot some Isos with grub4dos 0.45c because the damn FAT interupted the file copy and the file was not contiguous, there are several post from steve6375 about how to deal with this subject, he even suggested to create an small partition of a certain fixed size and latter expand the partition to the required size, trying to avoid the FAT interference in file copy.

 

On NTFS there is MFT (a metadata) and some other metadatas, and I have seen there is always one of more of them located not at the begining of the partition, it is easy to see them on the attached picture of a partition just  formated as NTFS. That 's why even a just formated drive can't be reduced in size under certain limit using Windows Disk Manager tool.

 

alacran

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#21 alacran

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 05:36 PM

@ wimb

 

You can gain unfragmented FREE Space when after using WofCompress you copy the files to another drive or use a tool like Defraggler

 

Let me tell you if you copy the just Wofcompressed folder to another drive it will lose the compression, I had to reboot to Win10 to be able to see properties of a compressed folder and of same folder copied to another drive, because both look the same from Win7.  See attached pictures. Left is located where it was WofCompressed and Right is copied to another drive.

 

EDIT: If I check SHA1 of both folders it is the same.

 

alacran

Attached Files



#22 wimb

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 06:31 PM

@alacran

 

OK, so copy to another drive is not a solution.

We need then after WofCompress to use Defraggler if we want to get unfragmented FREE Space.

 

NTFS Compression is HORRIBLE  :ph34r:

 

I formatted the drive and switched on NTFS Compression.

Then I copied the original File content to the drive.

Defraggler shows immense file fragmentation of 99%

 

==> 

 

NTFS Compressed drive Before ==> and After using Defraggler

 

WofCompress is good solution, but you get some fragmentation of FREE Space .....



#23 alacran

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Posted 26 April 2019 - 11:44 PM

@alacran

 

OK, so copy to another drive is not a solution.

We need then after WofCompress to use Defraggler if we want to get unfragmented FREE Space.

 

NTFS Compression is HORRIBLE  :ph34r:

 

WofCompress is good solution, but you get some fragmentation of FREE Space .....

 

Yes, NTFS Compression creates a terrible fragmentation and it has a very poor compression, WofCompress is better in compression even in the lower level, and basically it do not create fragmentation by itself as NTFS Compression does, it just leave behind the saved space, but if we want to consolidate the free space we require another tool. I'm following your advice and will try Defraggler.
 

Just downloaded Defraggler Portable version, never used it before, I only opened it and take a look, it has several options  as defragment file, folder, drive and also on advanced defragment free space, it seems good, I allready tested it in an small partition and its speed is good.

 

If for some reason, we want to install the wofadk.sys driver without installing WinNTSetup, it can be downloaded with GetWaikTools from JFX and to install it, it is just put it into Windows\System32\drivers folder and run the attached reg file and reboot the OS.
 

Would you may consider to make a GUI for WofCompress?, at first seen it does not look any hard for your skills.

I don't require it for myself, but it may be very useful for a lot of people, since WofCompress can be used from 7 to 10.

 

alacran

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#24 wimb

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Posted 27 April 2019 - 06:38 AM

Yes Defraggler Portable is a very useful tool to get insight in disk usage and can be used to defragment files and free space on disk drives.

 

Mostly there is enough free space on my drives and no need to use compression of files and/or folders.

But if you need or want compression, then WofCompress Tool is certainly a very interesting solution.

 

I will have a look if I can make a GUI for WofCompress, which will enable easy use of this tool.


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#25 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 27 April 2019 - 09:11 AM

@ Wonko

 

 

My mistake, yes on NTFS there is MFT (Master File Table), not FAT (File Alocation Table), FAT is on Fat 12/16/32 etc.

 

About:

 

 

No, they are not, I remember having problems with FAT32 formated USB sticks when trying bo boot some Isos with grub4dos 0.45c because the damn FAT interupted the file copy and the file was not contiguous, there are several post from steve6375 about how to deal with this subject, he even suggested to create an small partition of a certain fixed size and latter expand the partition to the required size, trying to avoid the FAT interference in file copy.

 

On NTFS there is MFT (a metadata) and some other metadatas, and I have seen there is always one of more of them located not at the begining of the partition, it is easy to see them on the attached picture of a partition just  formated as NTFS. That 's why even a just formated drive can't be reduced in size under certain limit using Windows Disk Manager tool.

 

alacran

 

 

FAT's are at the beginning of the volume, in the so-called reserved sectors that are NOT part of the volume space.

The last character in the above sentence is a full stop or period.

 

The $MFT is normally at an offset inside the volume and UNLIKE in FAT filesystem, in NTFS "everything is a file" BUT it is possible to create a NTFS volume where the metadata (including the $MFT) are moved to the beginning of the volume.

 

I just explicitly provided a link to a method I proposed to achieve the above (and most probably it is the method "by Steve6375" you just cited), it would be nice if you could review it before continuing this absurd mixing up of FAT with NTFS:

http://reboot.pro/to...disk-emulation/

 

:duff:

Wonko





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