Compression Problem ?

[Avzone]

How comes when I compress a file using the 'make archive' option it only decreases the file size a little. When I use to do it in windows it seem to compress it down quite a bit, so it was worth doing anyway.
Im trying to fit a bunch of programs on a c.d and it only seems to be doing it a little.
I take it thats what the 'make archive' feature is for?
Please advise.
Thanks!

 

[madog]

As far as I know the archive creation is the same as it is for Windows. The problem just might be the files you are trying to compress. Like if they are mp3's or music files that already have a certain amount of compression to them there isn't much space re-compressing them will save.

 

[Avzone]

>>>

Na there Software files ?

 

[madog]

Hmmm. Well they do have .rar apps and 7zip (decompression app at least) for Mac so you might want to try another format and see if it does much better (I know 7z is supposed to be better compression in general), and it should give you an idea of whether or not Mac's archive is doing its job properly.

Head over to macupdate.com and search for rar or 7z or (hopefully not) Stuffit, and examine your options.

You could also create a .dmg from a folder through Disk Utility. That should be better than an archive, but is only Mac compatible.

 

[Avzone]

>>>

Ive got Stuffit maybe I could try that and compare them then.

Whats Dmg stand for?

 

[madog]

Disk Image I think. If you have a Windows past, you can think of it like a compressed .iso that only works with DiskUtility (like the thousands of disk imaging apps for Windows that have their own special format), but can be created from folders or volumes. (File, New-New Image from Folder, is the option in DU I believe off the top of my head).

As long as I'm talking about it: There is a way to make uncompressed images of volumes in DU. It uses .cdr format which can be changed on Windows to .iso and be burned normally.

 

[Avzone]

>>>

Ok Thanks, I'll check it.
😉