[gentoo-user] Recreating a directory structure and indicating a files presence

[Andrew Lowe]

Hi all,
	I have the situation where I have a large amount of data, many TB's, 
made up of many, many files. This information has now been archived but 
I've got people who want to be able to see what data does/does not 
exist, filling in gaps where they may exist.

	As this data used to be available/visible in a directory structure, ie 
via a file browser, I thought the easiest way for them to see if 
something existed would be to create a mirror of the directory structure 
and then populate this dir structure with 1 - 5 byte files with the same 
name as the "real" data files that now reside in the archive. I've seen 
some scripts on the interweb that allow me to create the dir structure, 
but does anyone have any ideas how to do the creation of the "marker" 
files in the active file system?

	Just buying more hard disks and keeping the data on line also isn't an 
option.

	Any thoughts, greatly appreciated,

		Andrew