Dr. Mu, I know that this is off-topic, but what you ran into there is likely a 'sparse file'. This is a file system feature that lets the system skip large chunks in the middle of a file that have no content. If you open a sparse file and put a character at offset 1E9, an OS that supports sparse files won't write all the intermediate blocks, just the one with the data, and a note of the offset of that block. It's a feature.
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Spring: Forces, Coiled Again!

In reply to Re: Re: vanishing system call by paulbort
in thread vanishing system call by Anonymous Monk

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