[nzlug] 'Chunked' file systems?

[Michal Ludvig]

Cliff Pratt wrote:
> Rather than have a directory with a bunch of tiny files in, which causes 
> havoc with backups and copies and such, is there any way that I can have 
> a 'directory' with a bunch of 'files' that can be copied and or backed 
> up as a unit. I don't know if I've expressed the problem clearly or not....

I don't think any of the normal filesystems provide such a feature. 
However with the help of FUSE (filesystem in userspace) you can have 
your small files in e.g. tar or cpio file and mount that file as a real 
filesystem somewhere to your directory structure. Look for archivemount 
at http://fuse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/FileSystems

Or use the loopback-mounted image file with a real filesystem as 
suggested by others.

Michal