[Qemu-devel] image size - OS reports 720mb, but image file is 2.3 gig

[Joe Bogner <joebogner@gmail.com>]

Hello,

I'm trying to create an win2k image that is as small as possible. I'd
like to be able to copy the image back and forth between machines so
that I have a complete win2k development image.

According to win2k, the size is about 720mb. Originally win2k was
reporting the size to be about 1.2gig, but I was able to reduce it
through NTFS compression.

Here's the dilemna. The physical image file is 2.3gig. I've run a
qemu-img convert -f qcow <input> -O qcow <output>, which took the
original 4.5 gig image down to 2.3 gig. With qemu-img compression, I
was able to get it down to 1.7gig.

Why is there such a large discrepency between what win2k reports and
the physical image file on disk? Is there anything else I can do to
reduce it, aside from compressing the physical image file?

1.7 gig is still quite a bit to be shuffling around between machines.

Thanks,
Joe