The possibility of restoring an image to a partition smaller than the original partition where the image was created.

[hongyi-zhao]

Dear Partclone Community,

I am seeking guidance on a specific operation involving the restoration of an image file, sda1.img, to a relatively different location - the /dev/sda3 device.

To give you a brief overview, I have previously created an image file, sda1.img, using the Partclone v0.3.17 tool. Here are the specifications of the created image:

$ sudo partclone.info -s sda1.img
Partclone v0.3.17 http://partclone.org
Showing info of image (sda1.img)
File system:  EXTFS
Device size:  209.7 GB = 51199951 Blocks
Space in use:  20.2 GB = 4939090 Blocks
Free Space:   189.5 GB = 46260861 Blocks
Block size:   4096 Byte

image format:    0002
created on a:    64 bits platform
with partclone:  v0.3.23
bitmap mode:     BIT
checksum algo:   CRC32
checksum size:   4
blocks/checksum: 256
reseed checksum: yes

I'm considering the restoration of this image file into /dev/sda3 device. I ran the ‘fdisk -l’ command to obtain the necessary details about this device:

$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda3
Disk /dev/sda3: 29.3 GiB, 31457280000 bytes, 61440000 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Considering the considerable size gap between the source image and the destination device, I am not certain whether the image restoration would work properly or if it's even a feasible option. Thus, I am inquiring if it's possible to restore the sda1.img file to the /dev/sda3 location without causing any issues?

Any assistance or guidance on this matter would be highly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Best Regards,
Zhao