Charles Kroeger wrote:
If you had an image of a partition that used the ext3 file system and tried to install this image unto a freshly partitioned hard drive with an ext4 file system, would the image be destroyed or corrupted?
I'm sorry I really don't understand, please define what you mean by "installing" the image.
Random guesses:- If you want to restore the image then upgrade the ext3 filesystem to ext4, there's no problem; you can find some procedures around the net, although generally just mounting the filesystem as ext4 will do the trick. Note however that only newer files will take advantage of most ext4 features (extents,..). - If you want to restore the ext3 filesystem image in a separate partition than the one containing the existing (and new) ext4 filesystem, then there's no problem either, you can mount any filesystem on any other filesystem, as long as they have enough POSIX features (AFAIK).
-t