Very High Compression for Files

[Garibaldi]

I have an image file of a linux install I did that I want to backup. The image file is 15 GB, but 7GB (maybe more if I can delete some more stuff) is freespace. Is there a really high compression format that would let me shrink that down to 4 GB so I can burn it on a dvd for a backup copy? Do you have any links to this piece of software?

[Forum Troll]

You can use Winrar to split it into 4 pieces for burning to DVD.

[reboot]

Uharc might squeeze it...Google it.

[Garibaldi]

Uharc might squeeze it...Google it.

Thanks I tried that, but Uharc only supports files 2 GB and under. Any other ideas?

[ViRaL1]

Is the image already compressed?

[Garibaldi]

Is the image already compressed?

No, its just a regular .img file. I have around 8 GB of the 15 free now, I could delete more (wine is taking up alot of space) but I'm not sure if they are wine temp files or not. Any ideas on how to compress (basically 7 GB now) down to 4 GB would be great!

[live4ever]

Try Stuffit.
http://www.stuffit.com/win/index.html
They give you a 15 day trial on the standard version.

[Garibaldi]

Try Stuffit.
http://www.stuffit.com/win/index.html
They give you a 15 day trial on the standard version.

I thought Stuffit was only for Mac OS X- you learn something new each day. Back when I had a Mac I was able to dl Stuffit and keep using it forever (free), I wonder why they don't do that with the windows version?

[BJ_M]

its not free for mac either (now) ..

WinRK 2.0 has the BEST compression of any program ..

just so you didnt think i made this up ..

first 20 best compression


1 WinRK 2.0 9412939 100.0
2 PAQAR 4.0 9675449 102.8
3 DURILCA 0.4b 9891049 105.1
4 SLIM 0.23d 9905919 105.2
5 EPM r9 10179845 108.1
6 RKC 1.02 10411833 110.6
7 COMPRESSIA 1.0b 10664630 113.3
8 PPMonstr Ir1 10799660 114.7
9 ENC 0.15 10939309 116.2
10 ASH 04a 10966623 116.5
11 Ocamyd 1.64 11122410 118.2
12 UHARC 0.6 11151014 118.5
13 7-ZIP 4.13b 11300395 120.1
14 RK 1.04.1 11454328 121.7
15 CTXf 0.75 b1 11587323 123.1
16 WINRAR 3.42 11601931 123.3
17 STUFFIT 8.5 11702399 124.3
18 PPMN 1.00b1 km 11733001 124.6
19 GRZipII 0.2.4 11805752 125.4
20 RKUC 1.04 11825088 125.6

http://www.maximumcompression.com/
http://www.maximumcompression.com/data/summary_sf.php

[BJ_M]

PAQAR is also very good btw -- but a little slow ..

as are all the max compress methods -- they are doing a huge amount of number crunching ....

splitting it seems like a better solution

[Garibaldi]

PAQAR is also very good btw -- but a little slow ..

as are all the max compress methods -- they are doing a huge amount of number crunching ....

splitting it seems like a better solution

Thanks alot for your detailed response, that was exactly what I was looking for- figures of each compression type compared to each other.

Why do you think splitting the file would be better? Because compressing would take a long time?

[Garibaldi]

I found a GUI for PAQAR:
http://guiguy.wminds.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=495&forum=3&5

[BJ_M]

compressing 15 gig block will take a long time -- AND it might not compress enough even then ....

the top 2 are 20% better compression than winrar (using max settings)

[Garibaldi]

compressing 15 gig block will take a long time -- AND it might not compress enough even then ....

the top 2 are 20% better compression than winrar (using max settings)

Like I said though I have 8 GB free on the image file, wouldn't that 8 GB just compress to almost nothing, leaving only the other 7 GB to actually be compressed?

[BJ_M]

yez - true .... ( i missed that part)

[energy80s]

What about Norton Ghost? You don't even need Windows installed on your PC as it will run from a Win98 Start-up disc DOS prompt.

[Garibaldi]

What about Norton Ghost? You don't even need Windows installed on your PC as it will run from a Win98 Start-up disc DOS prompt.

This isn't for windows, its for a linux image file.