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Mac Zips and Vista

H

hollymccaig

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 18, 2007
2
0
Okay, so we're having issues with Vista users when they download zip files and try unzipping them that were made with a MAC.

Most of the time they get errors. But, when we download and test on other MACs that doesn't happen. I've been told they can skip through parts of the unzipping and eventually get to the files.

Some are seeing all these hidden files that seem to waste space...I've been told that happens on ALL zips, but the Mac is just smarter to not see them.

Thoughts so we can relate to our team and customers on this issue? What we could be doing better on our end too?

Thanks!
 
what unzipping app are they using under vista?

its not "smart enough not to see the hidden files", more like "bloated enough to spread useless hidden files everywhere" lol.

anyway, there should be no problem since zip is a pretty crossplatform standard(which I just found I didn't have any experience). if it happens all the time(to be an OSX's "feature" or not), you might consider using other 3rd party compressing apps.
 
what's weird is that on my macosx i am using the right-click and archive option. so is my team member. my files don't get the errors, but hers do.

maybe it isn't just a vista issue, someone just had it happen with xp.

this one person is using win rar to unzip. we even attempted to send it to the person in different methods thinking that was the issue, but nope.

what do you all recommend for zipping?
 
I've never had a problem with Mac OS X's built-in Zip feature. Are the files you're seeing ._ files? Sometimes a file in OS X will get some additional data that other operating systems (that can't make use of that data) see as a separate invisible file. This is not "bloat". The files take up a negligible amount of space and do serve a purpose — when in OS X.
 
hollymccaig said:
what's weird is that on my macosx i am using the right-click and archive option. so is my team member. my files don't get the errors, but hers do.
Click to expand...

Have you got the same version of OS X? Maybe she has an older one and needs to update.
 
aLoC said:
Have you got the same version of OS X? Maybe she has an older one and needs to update.
Click to expand...
zip is a compress standard which is independent from operating system, there is no reason a newer version of OSX making different zips.
 
Since we haven't gotten a reply from OP, but I've tested the ZIP from OS X to Vista, I'm tempted to say this might involve resource forks and the apple double format.
 
SC68Cal said:
Since we haven't gotten a reply from OP, but I've tested the ZIP from OS X to Vista, I'm tempted to say this might involve resource forks and the apple double format.
Click to expand...

and did you find any solutions?
 
clevin said:
and did you find any solutions?
Click to expand...

We'd have to find a way to 'sanitize' the target before we zip it up. I think the problem is that the source of these problems (resource forks, apple double, etc..) is in the underlying file system, HFS + so I don't know how successful we would be at that.
 
SC68Cal said:
We'd have to find a way to 'sanitize' the target before we zip it up. I think the problem is that the source of these problems (resource forks, apple double, etc..) is in the underlying file system, HFS +
Click to expand...

can I assume you tried different zipping apps for osx?:)
 
well, if this is a file system issue, it would really be interesting.

Too bad I m not on neither my vista nor my osx box now... I will do some test later if the problem still persists...

edit:
test 1. archived *.zip under OSX, extracted under my Ubuntu, everything looks fine.
 
SC68Cal said:
Individual files, there is no issue. Try zipping a directory.
Click to expand...

I zipped two files, and now under vista, it treats the zip as if it is encrypted, but I can still get it extracted by ignoring the warning.

I will try to zip the folder at next commercial break..

anyway, if its fine zipping files, maybe OP can just zip the files instead of the whole folder, if possible.

update

ok, for a folder, there will be warnings for "same named file exist" and "encrypting", for same name warning, skip it, for encrypting, just okay its default action. I get all files extracted correctly.

so my guess is for OP, tell her just accept all warnings, eventually she got all the files correctly.

PS. you can still try different compressing apps for osx, since apparently nobody tried it yet. :D
 
I begin to wonder if we are actually talking about the same problem....lets wait for OP's response
 
Thanks so much guys for helping out on this problem. We are using only using the right click/archive option to zip our files. (We are zipping a folder (which contains jpg files). The problem we are running into, is we are getting customers who are unable to unzip the file because they are getting error messages and are asked for the password. We've tried telling our customers to click skip or to ignore the error message. But, some who are using a third party application to unzip are not given that option to skip the error.

I've doubled checked on my version of OS X, and I have the latest version. I've done further research online, and I've found a script that I can run using Automator that is supposed to elimate those extra Mac OS x files. I've tested a zip file on a XP machine and it unzips perfectly and without those extra files. I'm not really sure where to go from here.
 
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