Charles Kroeger wrote:
My question is if the hard drive is reformatted with the ext4 file system and I re-install that 'image' [ext3 file system] will the data be corrupted?
This doesn't really help, I'll assume you just want to convert your ext3 filesystem (saved in an image file) to ext4.
You have two possibilities: - Upgrade the existing filesystem[1]. - Create a new filesystem and copy the files into it[2].1: https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Howto#Converting_an_ext3_filesystem_to_ext4 2: Use Alan's instructions to mount the image file with a loop device, and copy them in your new ext4 filesystem.
-t