Formatting files

[pizzaman]

Does anyone know how i can format a file to make it smaller? Do i use WinRar or WinZip?

[Iconoclast]

Either. WinZIP if you want other users to use the ZIP archive. WinRAR can save and read both ZIP and RAR archives and is said to compress them somewhat better. But many users do not have WinRAR.

[pizzaman]

Does compressing mean that it makes it compact? I compressed a file once and it was the same size, maybe i did it wrong though.

[Iconoclast]

If you used Windows XP, no wonder. Compression varies. Compress, compact. Pretty much the same thing. You are reducing the file size.

[pizzaman]

So if I have Wondows XP then i can't compress files?!? :eek:

[Iconoclast]

No. Windows XP can compress files. Right mouse-click, Properties, Advanced, Compress Contents to Save Space. This removes unnecessary bytes from the file. Apply this to a folder to be able to quickly compress all of its contents.

But you don't need to really do that if you have WinZIP or WinRAR. Create a new ZIP or RAR archive, and simply add the files you want to compress.

[jambog]

So if I have Wondows XP then i can't compress files?!? :eek:

Windows XP doesn't make a difference from any other windows OS that uses NTFS format, which I think started with Windows 95. Some file formats are already compressed and either can't be compressed furture or can only be compressed very little. JPG or .JPEG are an already compressed format so if you try to compress a JPG image or even a whole folder of JPG images, they won't compress very much if they even compress at all. A lot of video formats are already compressed such as MPG or MPEGs they might be able to be compressed a little more, but not much. Same with MP3s, they are already in compressed form but can be compressed a little furture.

I'm not sure if one compressed format is better for certain files then another, but to get the most compression possible I usually have the best luck either using .7z, .ace, or .rar. If you want to find the best compression for a certain format you will just have to compress it using the different formats and see which one makes it smaller. the three formats I mentioned usually beats .zip by far. Get the programs here>

http://www.7-zip.org/
http://www.winace.com/
http://www.rarlab.com/

[Iconoclast]

People have to download all of that software as well if he compresses them with that software. It's best for him to use WinZIP, unless there's some serious compression needed or something. If he wants other people to view his archives, he should use WinZIP because it's on everyone's PC. The software you mentioned may be better, but you can blame Microsoft for making the wrong ZIP software universal. It is easiest this way.

And TXT text documents can't be compressed at all. The only file formats that I know of that don't contain any binary information are HTML and TXT. Web browsers can't project any other file type. They were, of course, meant to view HTML documents. But they can see text documents as well. TXT is just plain text. There is nothing to compress there without losing some of your text.

[pizzaman]

Ok, i think i get it. Which program do you guys think would be best to compress a 20-30GB folder?

[Iconoclast]

What the shizznit? Is that hypothetical? Jambog knows what's better than WinZIP. Wait for him.

[pizzaman]

Lol, I just want my cousins to recieve some files, and I dont want to use 7 DVDs.

[jambog]

I just compressed a folder that uncompressed was 834MB using several methods. The folder contained various files including pictures, videos and executibles. here are the results

.7z reduced it to 147MB about 25 minutes
.rar reduced it to 191MB close to 18 min
.ace reduced it to 261MB around 15 min
.zip reduced it to 304MB about 8 min

Like I said this folder contained various formats. .rar might be better for picture formats while .7z is better for video (That is just an example, I have no idea if its true) but .7z beat them all in this test. The times are rough estimates, but you get the idea. so if it took that long to compress a folder that is 834MB, it would take a while for a 20-30GB folder.

[pizzaman]

Holy ****, this is going to take a long time :mad2:
But thanks jambog, now all I have to do is do the same thing with about 25GB of files. :(

[jambog]

Yeah, and if you going to split the files to burn them on DVD, 7-z will do that. When you click to add to archive, in the window you will see a drop down list under Split to volume and you can choose Floppy, CD, and DVD and it automatically splits them into seperate file that will just fit on the format you choose, also there is a compression level list, Ultra has the best compression and is what I used in my test above for the .7z archive.

[dtfreak05]

what kinds of files are you trying to give him that take 25 to 30 GB?!

[jambog]

what kinds of files are you trying to give him that take 25 to 30 GB?!

My guess is porn movies, thats the only files I have on my PC that would take up that much space lol:p

[chaos master]

I just compressed a folder that uncompressed was 834MB using several methods. The folder contained various files including pictures, videos and executibles. here are the results

.7z reduced it to 147MB about 25 minutes
.rar reduced it to 191MB close to 18 min
.ace reduced it to 261MB around 15 min
.zip reduced it to 304MB about 8 min

Like I said this folder contained various formats. .rar might be better for picture formats while .7z is better for video (That is just an example, I have no idea if its true) but .7z beat them all in this test. The times are rough estimates, but you get the idea. so if it took that long to compress a folder that is 834MB, it would take a while for a 20-30GB folder.

Really? My comp compressed an unformatted video file of 1.62 GB into 40 MB in about 40 seconds. How much RAM do you have?

[jambog]

Really? My comp compressed an unformatted video file of 1.62 GB into 40 MB in about 40 seconds. How much RAM do you have?

I have 1GB PC333, how much do you have, what program was you using to compress?

[pizzaman]

Lol no it is not porn movies, but there are video files, text files, aplications, and ect. It's everything important on my computer, and since my cousins aren't very smart on how to get some of my software I will give it to them. But I do not know what to do with the compression window, the one i get when I click "add to archive..."
It has all types of things that IDK what they are like;
1) Compression meathod
2) Directory size
3) Word size
4) Update mode
5) "Create SFX archive"???

[jambog]

Compression method is the mathmatical algoritum used. LZMA will probably be your best option because it is good compression for most file types that aren't already compressed, and decompresses very quickly (10-20 times faster than it took you to compress it). PPMd is only vest for text formats, not for other file types. BZip2 is good for text files, but not much else. For LZMA a big word size gives a little better compression, but also causes slower compression. I just use the default 64MB word size (for Ultra). I have no idea what dictionary size does, but I keep it set to 64. The SFX means Self-Extracting Archive, I think that means that you don't have to have the 7-z program installed on a pc to extract it, but I'm not sure about that. Creat Solid Archive means that it has better compression, but you can't add to the archive once it's created. If you leave that option unchecked you can drag and drop to add or removed individual files from the archive. Here is how I keep mine set for most files

http://www.geocities.com/invalidswordfish/7z.JPG

[pizzaman]

This will be the joy of my life, I need to compress 26GBs while going at 1200KB/s. It says that there will ne 8 hours reamaining, I think I might have to pause when I go to sleep.

[jambog]

Why not just leave it running while you sleep, thats what I usually do, then it will be done when you wake up. Another note about the SFX, it does make it so you don't have to install the 7-z program on the PC you are extracting it too, so that would be best if you are giving the files to someone who doesn't know much about computers, but if you make it self extracting you can't split it to put on DVDs. When you split it its exactly like the files we got when we downloaded the full rom sets. you get a .7z.001, .7z.002 and so on.

[pizzaman]

Yes, I know, in fact I'm on my way. So far this is my progress;
Edit: And it's 2% done.

Elapsed Time;
11:45

Remaining Time;
9:50

Size;
26GB

Speed;
761KB/s

[chaos master]

I have 1GB PC333, how much do you have, what program was you using to compress?

I got 1 GIG as well, I was using Windows Movie Maker to compress the movie. Does that massively change things?

[chaos master]

This will be the joy of my life, I need to compress 26GBs while going at 1200KB/s. It says that there will ne 8 hours reamaining, I think I might have to pause when I go to sleep.

You must have PASSION! You must have DETERMINATION!!

I used to DL for hours at a time and if the DL was interrupted, I would have to start over. I now have a DL manager, so that problem is gone for the most part.

[Iconoclast]

I got 1 GIG as well, I was using Windows Movie Maker to compress the movie. Does that massively change things?

You are not, in reality, compressing it with Windows Movie Maker. You are optimizing it. Sacrificing unneeded quality to lower file size. Yes, it can definetly change file size by a hell of a lot lower without losing any quality. It is very important to reoptimize using Windows Movie Maker.

[chaos master]

You are not, in reality, compressing it with Windows Movie Maker. You are optimizing it. Sacrificing unneeded quality to lower file size. Yes, it can definetly change file size by a hell of a lot lower without losing any quality. It is very important to reoptimize using Windows Movie Maker.

Yeah, part of me was saying that; but still, my computer can compress most stuff in under a minute; compression is just another silly chore to me; congradulations.

[Iconoclast]

Why do you spell "congratulations" "congradulations"? You may choose your slang English preferences, but cannot alter it. It is really "contratulations" whether you like the way it's spelled or not.

[chaos master]

Why do you spell "congratulations" "congradulations"? You may choose your slang English preferences, but cannot alter it. It is really "contratulations" whether you like the way it's spelled or not.

I know how to spell, silly! I just prefer the D because it makes the word hilarious. congradulations.

[pizzaman]

How do you compress files in under a minute?!? :eek:
I have a pentium D processor with 3 GHz on each of its dual cores, and the file is only up to 42% now! I am going to have to keep my computer on during the night :( .

And I didnt understand, how do you make the file smaller? Can I use Adobe Premiere to do it?

That might be so, but hilarious is my word!
it makes the word hilarious.

[jambog]

I tried to compress a 10GB folder last night and it locked my PC up after a few hours. I was trying to use Ultra compression which used 703MB of RAM, I have a gig, but still it keeps cacheing files and uses more and more RAM until it gets full and locks up. Maximum only used 186MB RAM, so I think that would have worked so I started it, and it was going fine and said it had 5 hours left to go, so I went to bed, and left it running. Woke up (after 6 hours of sleep) to find it had 8hours left, it was making progress, but was just taking alot longer then the program originally estimated. I didn't want to wait that long so I cancelled. Now I am just using the store method which I don't think compresses it at all, but it took less than 2 hours to do. I might have to use an extra DVD when I back all my files up since they aren't compressed, but I'd rather do that than wait 16 hours or more to compress it a little, and run the risk of it locking up anyway.

[pizzaman]

I didn't leave it running, but it is 64% complete and has 4 hours left. It has already gotten ridden of 5GBs of space( probably more now ) and is going great. I decided to play Zelda: Majora's Mask, because it is one of the few, if any, classics I haven't played. So I just keep the compressing on when I am on the computer, and when I get off I just pause it and put it into stand by.

[jambog]

Wow, the folder I am compression is mostly MPGs or MPEGs which are already compressed quite a bit, so I figured it it will really wouldn't make much of a difference in size. But if its 64% and already saved you 5GB, I'd finish. Are you using Ultra compression?

Does anybody know if you can load a .tmp file? When I tried it and it locked up I hit the power button to turn off my pc then rebooted and it had a .tmp file. Can I load that .tmp into the 7-z program to continue where I left off if I wanted to?

[pizzaman]

Yea I'm using ultra compression. I decided I didn't want to wait, so I just used an extra DVD ( I should no have been so selfish ). But thanks for the help. I will get you those "files" soon, I have been a little busy. ;)

[jambog]

I've been having alot of problems with using Ultra. I can usually get a folder that is a few hundred MB compressed, but anything bigger than that locks my PC up. How much RAM do you have?

Thanks, no big hurry for them, just whenever you get the time:)

[pizzaman]

I've been having alot of problems with using Ultra. I can usually get a folder that is a few hundred MB compressed, but anything bigger than that locks my PC up. How much RAM do you have?

Thanks, no big hurry for them, just whenever you get the time:)
I am proud to say that I have 2048 MBs RAM :D

[jambog]

Man, I only have 1GB, I would like two and would get two if it was just a matter of getting two more 512 chips, but my mobo only has 2 RAM slots and I have a 512 in each so I would have to get rid of the the two 512 slots and get two 1GB chips and I would take a huge loss on the 512 chips since they are used.

[pizzaman]

Man, I only have 1GB, I would like two and would get two if it was just a matter of getting two more 512 chips, but my mobo only has 2 RAM slots and I have a 512 in each so I would have to get rid of the the two 512 slots and get two 1GB chips and I would take a huge loss on the 512 chips since they are used.
Yea I know what you mean, We got this computer really new though. It cost $1,800 with everything, including the moniter and $100 worth of anti-virus programs. I think it was worth it, since if we bought one for less, in a couple of years it would allready be outdated.

[jambog]

I really want a new one. I want one with an AMD dual core, and atleast 2GB RAM and PCI express video card, but I think I am gonna wait until windows vista comes out to see what kind of processors and RAM they have then.

[pizzaman]

I really want a new one. I want one with an AMD dual core, and atleast 2GB RAM and PCI express video card, but I think I am gonna wait until windows vista comes out to see what kind of processors and RAM they have then.
When is it coming out? Oh and I forgot to ask, what is the difference between Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional?

[jambog]

When is it coming out? Oh and I forgot to ask, what is the difference between Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional?

last I heard Vista is due out in December of this year. The biggest difference in windows XP home vs. pro is networking. XP Home is only recommended to have 5 PCs networked together, while XP pro can have as many as you want networked. XP pro has more security options to help prevent unautorized users from accessing another users account also. XP pro has better options for system restoration and file backups as well. Thats basically the only differences that I know.

[pizzaman]

last I heard Vista is due out in December of this year. The biggest difference in windows XP home vs. pro is networking. XP Home is only recommended to have 5 PCs networked together, while XP pro can have as many as you want networked. XP pro has more security options to help prevent unautorized users from accessing another users account also. XP pro has better options for system restoration and file backups as well. Thats basically the only differences that I know.

All that for $200?!?!? :eek:

[pizzaman]

Okay folks, I'm having a problem. Now IDK if WinZip can do this by itself or if I need a different program, but how do I compress lots of files into lots of archives? I don't want one big archive, I want each one to have its own archive. Is that possible to do without having to compress every one manuelly?

[pizzaman]

Doesn't anybody know?

[Kameo]

WinRAR does that :) ....

[pizzaman]

WinRAR does that :) ....
Does WinZip? I want to zip my ROMs so that I can play them off of a DVD instead of off my computer, because my other computer is running low on hard drive space.

[Kameo]

WinRAR does not only RAR Ur files, it also ZIPs them ;).

There's two archieving tools I use, 7.z to extract, no other program can do it that fast. And WinRAR, it let's U ZIP up lots of files at the same time, into separate archieves if U wish. Works great if U want to compress an entire set of Games :) ....

[pizzaman]

WinRAR does not only RAR Ur files, it also ZIPs them ;).

There's two archieving tools I use, 7.z to extract, no other program can do it that fast. And WinRAR, it let's U ZIP up lots of files at the same time, into separate archieves if U wish. Works great if U want to compress an entire set of Games :) ....
Oh yeah! I forgot about that. :D Thanks a lot, this'll come in handy. :D

[Fierce Deity]

This is sort of unrelated, but extremely helpful. If you ever get a torrent with a .nfo file, and it says the file is corrupt, you can just change the extension to txt, and it will work now! Woo! Anyhow, this helped me get a serial I was looking really hard for, and it was with the torrent all along.

In compression, WinRAR is better for most everything. I only let Windows XP handle opening ZIP files, and WinRAR does everything else, except for 7z files.

[Kameo]

The latest version of WinRAR should handle 7.z quite nicely, it does that for me :) ....

[pizzaman]

This is sort of unrelated, but extremely helpful. If you ever get a torrent with a .nfo file, and it says the file is corrupt, you can just change the extension to txt, and it will work now! Woo! Anyhow, this helped me get a serial I was looking really hard for, and it was with the torrent all along.

Yes I know, it took me a while to figure it out too. I don't use them that much, because all they do is give you some general info.

In compression, WinRAR is better for most everything. I only let Windows XP handle opening ZIP files, and WinRAR does everything else, except for 7z files.
I thought that 7z compressed better?