(The current tools for the ‘open’ AFF format apparently try to seek so can’t convert via stdin or named pipe, but ewfacquirestream for the ‘proprietary’ format still works.)

I don’t think that implicates GNU/Linux specifically but that’s where I happened to pick that fight. After confirming that it appeared to be sort of possible in a roundabout way (and converting the “.ddimg.gz” to an EWF-format image) it fell to the bottom of the to-do list, so it’s not exactly 100% confirmed, but hopefully this saves someone else a lost night of Googling.

This trivia was inspired by some HP desktops at work coming with utility stuff on their EFI system partitions that can’t actually be conveniently re-downloaded from HP (at least if you’re not using Windows, which for all I know might now require some of that to boot). Odds of actually needing it for anything? Low, but an argument in favor of making a full-disk backup before blowing out the preloads… which I did… and in favor of making a *convenient* backup of just the relatively tiny ESP, oops.

This can also go on my permanent Internet record as the nasty letter to HP I never bothered to write.