[nubbles526]

I don't really recommend using compressed files for a backup, at least not any more, if you can afford it. It's great for storage, but if you ever have to do any data recovery, you could get pretty screwed.

Backup programs are also quite screwy though. And actually GETTING the files to be compressed takes FOREVER.

Heres a fact for you:
I have compressed a 300mb .exe file to all three formats. Guess which one processes it the fastest?

Spoiler:

WinRAR.

[colecampbell666]

How much slower was 7Zip, which format did you use, and which one had better compression?

[Cyker]

It's a tricky question, and depends muchly on what your idea of 'best' is.

Zip is very fast and widespread - It's the closest thing we have to a universal archive format.

Rar is slower but offers much better compression, and also supports ECC which means unlike zip and 7z it can compensate for some amount of archive corruption.

7zip is potentially the best compressor of the three, but also the potentially slowest and most memory hungry. It also has a mind-bogglingly large number of tweakable params. The Linux version has no GUI and is a real PITA to use; The GUI for the Windows version is okay but explains almost nothing about the options. It's very much still a 'l33t' user archiver, as RAR and ACE used to be. One big point about 7z is that it's an open format, so unlike rar it could be ported to any platform.


My current favorite archive is rar - It's easier to archive stuff with in both Linux and Windows, and the ECC blocks add that extra piece of mind; It's already saved me once due to a CD deteriorating on me (4 f'ing years! That's how long the dark blue/purple dye CDRs last! The light green ones are waaay better...).
I'd like 7z to rise up, but they need to make it Useable by normal people. Hell, some easily accessible documentation and a decent GUI for the Linux version would be a start!

Both winrar and 7zip for windows support each other's archive format.
In Linux they don't.

[CP5670]

7zip is potentially the best compressor of the three, but also the potentially slowest and most memory hungry.

That doesn't sound good. I already find rar too slow on unpacking large files, and the improvement in size over zip is usually not that great.

[Woolie Wool]

1. if you've got a 1.5GB exe file you're doing something wrong.
2. Download size is important to the server as is the space uncompressed files take up.

The EXE isntaller would already be compressed so there's no point. Further compression of an installer full of compressed data would yield negligible savings.

[Nx]

My current favorite archive is rar - It's easier to archive stuff with in both Linux and Windows, and the ECC blocks add that extra piece of mind; It's already saved me once due to a CD deteriorating on me (4 f'ing years! That's how long the dark blue/purple dye CDRs last! The light green ones are waaay better...).
I'd like 7z to rise up, but they need to make it Useable by normal people. Hell, some easily accessible documentation and a decent GUI for the Linux version would be a start!

Decent enough?

Peazip would be nice too, but it's just too buggy ATM

Both winrar and 7zip for windows support each other's archive format.
In Linux they don't.

They don't have to (the full p7zip package does, however, support a lot of formats, including rar), since a gui frontend (like gnome file-roller) will hide the backends and present a unified interface for all archive formats.

[WMCoolmon]

I don't really recommend using compressed files for a backup, at least not any more, if you can afford it. It's great for storage, but if you ever have to do any data recovery, you could get pretty screwed.

Backup programs are also quite screwy though. And actually GETTING the files to be compressed takes FOREVER.

Heres a fact for you:
I have compressed a 300mb .exe file to all three formats. Guess which one processes it the fastest?

Spoiler:

WinRAR.

I just said you shouldn't compress the files. You can always back things up using tar, which leaves the files uncompressed, but puts them into one file and can be written to and read to by a number of programs (including 7zip).

I'm not sure what you're doing with a 300mb exe file; I've never heard of an application that big. It sounds like you're trying to compress a self-extractor. What program is it, anyway?

[colecampbell666]

The TBP installer is 1 Gb. Or was.

[Polpolion]

Who exactly compresses self-extractors?

[achtung]

The TBP installer is 1 Gb. Or was.

It's still a self-extractor. 

[jr2]

If you wanna do it right, I'd say just use the self-extractor, then 7z the installation directory... as long as there is a way to put the necessary additions to the registry etc in afterwards.

And, if you want the compression options in 7zip explained, try clicking the help button... works wonders.  XD  (You have to scroll down to the options list IIRC.)

[nubbles526]

I'm not sure what you're doing with a 300mb exe file; I've never heard of an application that big. It sounds like you're trying to compress a self-extractor. What program is it, anyway?

An Inferno one.

@Nx: Peazip? Sounds small...

EDIT: @Nx: That BtRL background on your linux is hot

[colecampbell666]

Is that Ubuntu or Kubuntu Edubuntu?
*EDITED*

[Nx]

I'm not sure what you're doing with a 300mb exe file; I've never heard of an application that big. It sounds like you're trying to compress a self-extractor. What program is it, anyway?

An Inferno one.

@Nx: Peazip? Sounds small...

EDIT: @Nx: That BtRL background on your linux is hot

Peazip is nice and simple (I mostly need an extractor that can handle anything, without nagging me to register it every time), but unfortunately after a few days of use it forgot how to open files when I double clicked them in Explorer. I think I have 7zip on Vista now.
That's Gabe Koerner's reimagined Enterprise btw.

Is that Ubuntu or Kubuntu Edubuntu?
*EDITED*

And I thought you confused Ubuntu with Kubuntu because I changed the color scheme to blue

[colecampbell666]

No, it's because both of them have pissed me off so much in the last two weeks.

[Jeff Vader]

How come?

[colecampbell666]

When I try to install on my desktop, it only sees 32 Gb of the HDD some times, and sometimes the full 160. It won't boot most times, and when it does updating it screws it up. I have to update my mobo anyways to accommodate my new CPU, so I'll try again after that. On my mom's laptop, it disables the wireless in Windoze, so it has to be deleted.

[Nx]

When I try to install on my desktop, it only sees 32 Gb of the HDD some times, and sometimes the full 160. It won't boot most times, and when it does updating it screws it up. I have to update my mobo anyways to accommodate my new CPU, so I'll try again after that. On my mom's laptop, it disables the wireless in Windoze, so it has to be deleted.

Disables as in you can't use wireless in Windows while Ubuntu is installed?

[colecampbell666]

My mom found out that if you held the button down while it started up it worked. I think that the reason is because it's an HP, which have bad Gutsy support. The BroadCom wireless cards are supposed to be supported, though.

[nubbles526]

That's Gabe Koerner's reimagined Enterprise btw.

  ...that...that can't be in game...