Error: extended record needed

Note: This is an older article that has only had terminology updated to reflect newer fog versions terminology.

When I capture an image I get the error "...extended record needed..." / "ERROR: Extended record needed (1056 > 1024), not yet supported! Please try to free less space." How do I fix it?

First of all, "Please try to free less space" is a misleading message it actually should read something like "Please try to free up more contiguous free space."

The root cause of this problem is files that are flagged as unmovable, typically the windows swap file. Defragging the hard disk typically will fix the problem.

This error comes from ntfsresize. It appears that ntfsresize cannot move more than 1024 file fragments. This is a known limitation to ntfsresize. This limitation seems to be triggered particularly by partitions that are badly fragmented.

ref. http://forum.linux-ntfs.org/viewtopic.php?t=255&highlight=extended+record+needed

Increasing UPLOADRESIZEPCT may increase the target size ntfsresize uses (see the section at the bottom) may solve the problem in some cases, but it is unlikely to solve most cases.

Possible solutions: Reduce fragmentation and compress the data on the partition. You may run defrag a number of times, and/or delete badly fragmented files. Some helpful tips:-


 * Turn off system restore
 * Delete the swap file
 * do a chkdsk /F
 * Then defrag the disk
 * Now turn the swap file back on and system restore.

or
 * Try Defraggler http://www.defraggler.com/ This will help you move files that are flagged as unmovable in Windows.

or
 * Use non-resizeable images.
 * Use ntfsresize manually to compress the partition to a useable size.
 * Harrass NTFS-Utils to add extended record functionality, and include that in FOG.

In the release of 0.08 we have added a new configuration value to the fog management portal called:

UPLOADRESIZEPCT

The default value for this setting is 5, which means when FOG resizes your Windows Partition for capture it will add 5% to the size of the data on your drive to account for files that cannot be moved. In most cases this setting is fine, but if you get the error mention above, you most likely will need to change this setting to 10 or 12. After changing the setting and saving the file, you will need to cancel the current capture task for this host, and then recreate it.

One Users feedback:-

On user writes:- "I booted GPARTED and manually resized the partition down to the size reported in the error from FOG. In my case, I attempted to upload an image, and noted the size reported as 'New volume size' (~9 lines above 'ERROR: ...'). Then in the GPARTED live CD, I manually ran ntfsresize with decreasing sizes until I was able to get to the size reported from FOG. Deleting fragmented files, and defragmenting was only partially helpful."