Sparse files:

A sparse file is a file that is handled in a way that requires much less disk space than would otherwise be needed. Sparse support allows an application to create very large files without committing disk space for those regions of the file that contains only zeros. For example, you can use sparse support to work with a 42-GB file in which you need to write data only to the first 64 KB (the rest of the file is zeroed). In other words, all meaningful or nonzero data is allocated, whereas all non-meaningful data (large strings of data composed of zeros) is not allocated. When a sparse file is read, allocated data is returned as stored and unallocated data is returned, by default, as zeros. Sparse file support allows data to be de-allocated from anywhere in the file.

If you copy such a file (with sparse file attribute set) to FAT or earlier NTFS version, the file is build to its original size (non-allocated space will be filled up by zeros). If the required space is not available, the operation does not complete. Paragon NTFS for Linux driver fully supports NTFS sparse files with sparse file attribute set.

NTFS streams:

Files and directories on NTFS partitions are collection of attributes, such as the creation time, security descriptor, file name, last access time etc. The file's data is just another file attribute. All files have at least one unnamed data attribute (default data). This unnamed attribute is the primary data stream of the file. Upon file creation, an unnamed stream is allocated to hold the file's data. A file can also optionally have one or more named data attributes. These additional named are the file's alternate data streams.

A stream is a hidden file that is linked to a normal (visible) file. A stream is not limited in size and there can be more than one stream linked to a normal file. For example, you may have a file with a zero size but with 1 GB of the alternate data streams, which are invisible for you. The operating system does not report information about any of the additional streams that may be part of the file.

How To Find Kernel Version Of LINUX

Codepage:
If a partition to be mounted contains files or directories which names have non-English characters, please use the '--iocharset' option: 'mount -t ufsd /dev/ /mnt/ -o --iocharset='. For example, 'mount -t ufsd /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda/02 -o --iocharset=iso-8859-2' (run in a Linux console as root or place into the /etc/fstab file).
LDM:
The Logical Disk Manager (LDM) is a term for a new way of partitioning a disk. There are two types of the disk partitioning:

- Basic type -a physical disk that can be accessed by MS-DOS and all Windows-based operating systems. Basic disks can contain up to four primary partitions, or three primary partitions and an extended partition with multiple logical drives.

- Dynamic type - a physical disk that can be accessed only by Windows 2000/2003 and Windows XP. Dynamic disks provide features that basic disks do not, such as support for volumes that span multiple disks, making it possible to have an unlimited number of logical drives. Dynamic disks use a hidden database (stored on the last 1 MB of the disk) to track information about dynamic volumes on the disk and other dynamic disks in the computer.

The LDM controls Windows Dynamic Disks which support spanned, striped, mirrored and RAID5 volumes. It was introduced in Windows 2000. Before that, Windows NT used volume sets, which stored their information in the registry.

NTFS for Linux, namely Paragon LDM driver allows you to work with Microsoft dynamic disks under Linux (spanned, striped, mirrored and RAID5 volumes) as easy as in Windows.
Fragmented NTFS:
Refers to the condition of a disk in which files are divided into pieces scattered around the disk. Fragmentation occurs naturally when you use a disk frequently, creating, deleting, and modifying files. At some point, the OS needs to store parts of a file in noncontiguous cluster chains. This is entirely invisible to users, but it can slow down the speed at which data is accessed because the disk drive must search through different parts of the disk to put together a single file.
SMP:
Short for Symmetric Multiprocessing, a computer architecture that provides fast performance by making multiple identical CPUs available to complete individual processes simultaneously (multiprocessing)

How to determine whether you use SMP kernel or not:

First, you should check your kernel (whether it was compiled with SMP support) using `uname -a` (run in a Linux console).

The contents of /proc/cpuinfo (run following command in a Linux console: `cat /proc/cpuinfo`) will tell you how many processors are active in the current system - if it's more than one then you're obviously on an SMP kernel, but if it equals one, then you might be using an SMP kernel on a UP machine, or a UP kernel on an SMP machine.

NTFS FOR LINUX: DESCRIPTIONS

Mount:
Mount is the process of connecting any volume to operating system. After this, operating system, any application or user can access contents of the volume through standard way. For Windows this standard way means the volume is assigned with drive letter, for Linux it means the volume becomes available under one of its tree node.

To mount any volume you should use the mount command - "mount ", where is from the first column of the table "fdisk -l" and is any directory from the local file system. For example, "mount -t ufsd /dev/ /mnt/, where the "-t" option specifies a file system to be mounted.
fstab:
The fstab (file systems table) file is commonly found on Unix and Unix-like systems and is part of the system configuration. The fstab file typically lists all used disks and disk partitions, and indicates how they are to be used or otherwise integrated into the overall system's file system. It also allows automatically mounting specified file systems at startup.

Generally, the fstab is only read by programs, and not written; it is the duty of the system administrator to create and maintain this file properly. However, more modern system administration tools can automatically build and edit fstab, or act as graphical editors for fstab.

LIMITATIONS NTFS FOR LINUX

.NTFS features: encrypted files not supported. Body of a file will be copied encrypted with loss of decryption capability. To make full archive the cpntfs utility can be used, available in the Professional Edition only.
.Attributes to be lost:
- when copying from NTFS to Linux FS: all streams will not be copied, along with compression flag and security attributes (use the cpntfs utility* )
- when copying from Linux FS to NTFS: all security attributes (access rights and ownership) will be lost
.Hardlinks and symlinks: any link will be copied as a full file with its body, losing link information