Image Format¶

Right now we support 2 image formats: extdump and ntfsdump. Those formats are raw copies (using dd) of partitions hosting ext{2,3,4} and ntfs filesystems respectively.

Partitions hosting a windows or linux system that are suitable for dumping should have the following properties:

• Be the first partition in the filesystem
• Start at sector 2048
• Have a bootloader installed in the partition

Known Issues¶

• For linux systems, having grub installed in the partition is fragile and things can go wrong when resizing the partitions, especially when shrinking.
• Swap space is not supported.
• More complicated partition schemes are not supported.
• We only support linux and windows images

Future Work¶

We are considering changing the {ext,ntfs}dump format in order to overcome the known issues.

• Extend extdump to contain the first 2048 sectors.
  +) Overcame the grub problem
  +) Easy to deploy, with only few changes
  -) The extdump image won't be directly mountable any more. We will have to use the device mapper before mounting the image.
• Ιnclude an additional file that has rules on how the image should be deployed.
  +) Support more complicated partition schemes.
  +) Customize settings like the number of users accounts their password will change.
  -) This can dramatically increase the complexity of the image format.
  -) This can dramatically increase the complexity of the bundling tool.
• Use a diskdump format (a raw disk copy)
  +) Run different OS's