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  • "So, if it doesn't fit afterwards, the original partition /dev/sda<n> was simply larger than /dev/sdh. This is completely independent from any compression used!" Yes, that's correct. I first made a backup (of Windows) then reduced the size (with cfdisk) to install linux. And then after, the Windows didn't run any more so I wanted to reinstall it on the now smaller partition! About the mistake you are pointing out: I was not quite correct. The command I used was: gunzip sda<n>.dd.img.gz >/dev/sda<n> Commented Feb 24 at 21:54
  • So you mean I have to resize the Partition to it's original size, reinstall Windows, defrag it, resize the the Partition and make the backup again?.. ?? UH! Commented Feb 24 at 22:01
  • 1
    well, what did you expect when you made a byte-exact backup of something larger than what you'll restore it to? Commented Feb 24 at 22:50
  • As frostschutz correctly says, gunzip file.gz writes the decompressed data to 'file' not to stdout, so it cannot be redirected (or piped). gunzip <file.gz does write to stdout, as does gunzip -c file.gz, and as Paul_Pedant commented zcat file.gz (zcat is a script that just does gzip -dc while gunzip just does gzip -d). Commented Feb 25 at 6:09
  • @dave_thompson_085 aaargh, missed that. Fixed my answer. Commented Feb 25 at 11:46