i want to make a 20MB file to be read as let say 100MB in size and only occupy 20MB of storage space
any idea?

This post has been edited by Reeson: May 7 2006, 07:46 PM

yeah, i wanna noe too!

dun think its possible..... u want make it larger and at the same time occupy small space.....

Why you wanna do that? Mind to tell us? Might have another solution for you.

If there's such thing to "fool" the computer, I would have stored all my anime collections in my 256MB flash drive

I would also like to fool my computer than I have 4GB of RAM

LOL! i dont mean like that, you cutey..
its not making a bigger file smaller, but the other way round..

i want to make 20MB file to be read as 100MB and it does not matter whether the file is fake/corrupt/useless whatsoever..

i just need the size trick..

This post has been edited by Reeson: May 7 2006, 09:53 PM

i think it's possible, just that i cant think of any software which can do so. Cant see the point of writting such software too

Just tell us why do you want it to be so. You want to make a virus or something?

We can provide you with alternative solutions.

There is no way of doing it unless you change the way how WinXP reads the size of your files & allows it to interprete the special header in your files to fake filesize but since we are touching about modifying closed source proprietor programs so further discussion isn't gonna help. Besides I dont know which file is responsible for process file size on HDD.

ntfs sparse file feature can do something like that.
tried it using utorrent, unfinished files shows up larger than they are.

You have to play with fsutil.exe file to create the file you want. Sparse file the way you want can be easily done if you master how to use fsutil.exe

See attachment for an example I made ith 30-second playing with fsutil.exe. If you want a tutorial on how to do it, wait after the repeat of Manchester United vs Charlton finished later tonight.


Attached thumbnail(s)

that looks interesting.. does that mean i can freely set the size and size on disk?
i'm waiting for the tutorial

btw, off topic, RvN was not even on the bench instead he was at home during the match

The tutorial, as an example, to create a file named music.mp3 that takes only 30MB HDD space but is shown by WIndows Explorer as 100MB in size.

1. Open up Command Prompt, and navigate to where you want the file stored. In this example, it will be C:\

2. Then at the command prompt, type:-



A file named music.mp3 with the size of 97.6MB and also takes 97.6MB of HD space will be created at C:\
Play with the 102400000 to get 100MB.



3. Then, type:-



This will mark music.mp3 as a sparse file.

4. Now to reallocate some space taken by music.mp3 as free space so that it will only takes 30MB of space.

Simple calculation shows that 67.6MB of space taken has to be reallocated as free space so that music.mp3 only takes 30MB.

67.6MB = 67600000
30MB = 30000000

Values above are not exactly a correct conversion. Do it yourself.

5. Back to command prompt, type:



This will reallocate a continuous 67.6MB from the start of the music.mp3 file as free space, and now music.mp3 file will only takes around 30MB (well it is actually 33MB - make your own conversion) of HD space. The 0 value above can by anything really, but not exceed 30000000.

now this is wat i call a pro

for some reason my command only works when i cd to my system32 folder.
how do i change it to work at every folder?

did folder system32 included in the PATH?

sory i dont get u, which PATH

type "PATH" in command prompt (without the double quotes), and see if "C:\Windows\System32" is one of the entries.

yes it is in the PATH

Are you guys sure fsutil will work? If you create 100 MB with 60 MB contains zero or null, it is still 100MB file not 40 MB file i believe.

The only way can do what the thread starter wants is intercepting system calls. However, i only knew how to do it in DOS though. Never tried system programming yet in WIN32.