According to Ethan Benson: > /me boggles, i have not heard of this one before, this is wacky! > where can i find more info on this, and what uses/advantages it has? Try http://google.com/ and enter "unix sparse files" That returns e.g. http://www.nic.com/~cheah/hole.html Mike. -- Denial. It's not just a river in Egypt.