Symantec GHOST IMAGING FOUNDATION 7.1, Manual

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Image files and volume spanning
You can capture an image in a single file or span an image across a number of
files.
Standard image files consist of a single file that contains the contents of the
complete disk or required partitions. This type of image file is used for storing
system configurations on server network drives for later restoration, or on other
hard drives and tape drives where the volume is large enough to hold the complete
image file.
Limitations on the image file size
The maximum file size is determined by the file system. If Ghost is writing an
image onto a FAT32-formatted disk, the maximum file size is 4 GB. If the image
is written to an NTFS-formatted disk, there is no maximum file size. Ghost writes
to an image file until a write failure occurs. If the write failure occurs because the
maximum file size is reached or because there is no more space left on the disk,
then Ghost spans the image and creates a new image-file segment.
Size-limited image files
There are situations in which it is not practical to have a standard image file.
Symantec Ghost can split an image file into segments (known as spans) that are
limited to a user-specified size. For example, you may want to keep files created
on your network drive limited to 100 MB so that you can transfer them easily in
the future. This option is most commonly used to limit span sizes to 620 MB for
later transfer to a CD.
If you access a large image file over a mapped network drive verify that the file
is no bigger than 2 GB. The DOS drivers cannot successfully access large files over
a mapped network drive. By splitting the file into spans, you enable Ghost to access
a large image file.
See “About image file spans” on page 47.
Spanned image files
Spanned image files are similar to size-limited image files. The difference is that
each segment file (or span) of the image file is limited by the actual volume size
of the media to which the image is being saved. This lets you specify a drive and
file name and lets Symantec Ghost determine when to request another volume
or location for the remaining data. This is very useful when using ZIP, JAZ, LS120
Superdisk, and other drive types.
Symantec Ghost support for image files and disks
Image files and volume spanning
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