16gig 350,000 file git repo

We have just pulled in a large ClearCase repository (no history), resulting in 16 gig of files, mostly test cases, in a fairly deeply-nested directory structure. Time to clone over a fast (10gig) network is 250 minutes, though I have not been able to verify that the repository was packed or not.

We would like to be able to branch the entire repository as one entity, but are unsure how to reduce the clone time without going to submodules or subtrees (have no experience with the latter and little with the former).

Is there anything that can be done to be able to clone only a part of the repository?

Any suggestions on how to better manage this?

Thanks.

Bill

[Sorry for the multiple post. Emacs ambushed me.] On Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 14:16:06 (-0600) Bill Lear writes: