Zipping It All Up

[GreyBadger]

Morning Pilots

 

No surprise for some of you to read me asking to pick your technical brains, but I need your smarts again if you would.

 

Downloading "DCS World" this time still took ages despite my having a slightly faster connection than the last time around and I'd really rather not have to do it again the next time my HD has to be reformatted for whatever reason. So I decided to do what I expect most of you would have done without thinking and copy the files to a dvd.

 

I used "7zip" and when all the files were zipped up they came to 6.783gig. I don't think I can be doing it right because it seems to me that adding up all the sizes of the unzipped files is already 6.49gig.

 

As you can see I don't know much about zipping things. I was surprised to see that the dvd itself only holds 4.something gig. I just thought they were huge and could hold all the worlds libraries and still have room for some movies and tunes. Perhaps I'm thinking about StarTrek.

 

At any rate I assumed I'd be able to get those "DCS World" files on one dvd. Am I doing something really obvious wrong?

 

Thanks all

Badger

[St3v3f]

Zipping the installer files doesn't make sense and results in a larger filesize than before because the installer itself uses a compression. So adding another compression layer can't reduce filesize but causes additional overhead.

 

If you want the files on a single DVD, get a double-layer DVD which holds over 8 gig. Personally, I store my installer files on an external HDD

Edited January 3, 2014 by St3v3f

[Flagrum]

(...) next time my HD has to be reformatted for whatever reason.

At that time, your version stored on DVD will be most likely be very outdated and the amount of data to be downloaded for the update will be perhaps of the same magnitude as a full download ... :o)

 

I just thought they were huge and could hold all the worlds libraries and still have room for some movies and tunes. Perhaps I'm thinking about StarTrek.

It's all a matter of perspective. When DVDs were new, compared to CDs or floppy disks that statement was more or less true. But look at it from this side: compare the size and weight of a DVD to the amount of paper you would need to print out all contents of a DVD. :o)

Just to paint a picture - the values might be seriously off: a page of paper, written by typewriter, might hold about 5000 letters. Double-sided this is 10000 per sheet. 4.5 GB equals 4 500 000 000 / 10 000 = 450 000 sheets. That is 900 packs of paper (500 pcs ea., as they are usually sold here) ... but I have no idea of how many pallets that might be. Or how much weight ...

[Hawk_5]

NO, your not doing anything wrong.

 

What St3v3f said. ^^.

 

The installer files are already in a compressed format. You won't get them any smaller. If you don't have a double layer DVD handy or external HDD maybe you have a 16GB USB stick but based on your hopes with the DVD It sounds like you don't.

 

These days there are a lot of storage methods that are pretty cheap and splitting your installer files across a couple of DVD's is doable but not really preferable. If you can afford to get some bigger backup gadgets like an external HDD or a USB stick then do that. If you have a big stack of blank DVD's and short of cash then use what you've got and you'll be fine.

 

 

Cheers,

5

[GreyBadger]

Ok thanks for the advice guys. You've saved me a fruitless task then.

 

I didn't understand about the files already being zipped up and that makes sense of the problem I was seeing. or at least "thought" I was seeing.

 

I'm not "expecting" HD issues within the next six months. But problems resulting in the HD having to be reformatted by a pc engineer in Nov 2012 and now Dec 2013 a very similar thing, have seen me lose everything on here twice now and twice having to begin again from scratch. it's left me a little sensitive.

 

Sadly my 8meg download speed makes files of this size a real project. Here in the UK we only now seeing fibre optic beginning to be rolled out in selected areas and where I am it even now just a whispered rumour. (Although it has to be said I heard that a man two streets away has a car and the rumour is he also has a television!) That said.. I know at least two people who have DL speeds of only a half meg! compared to them I am on easy street. :)

 

Anyway, thanks for the good advice fellas.

 

All the best

Badger

[cichlidfan]

Also, keep in mind that you can get a BluRay writer relatively cheap, if you want fairly permanent media. Nearly 50GB on a dual-layer disc comes in handy once in while (one will hold MP4 versions of the entire Outer Limits TV series). ;)

Edited January 4, 2014 by cichlidfan

[WhoDaresWins]

I'm on 2mb connection in the UK (roll on fibre optic, should get it this year, only over a decade late already!! blasted BT!! while supposedly 'lesser' countries have had 100mb in their cities for years) I did the various downloads one at a time and they took about an hour or so each, I didn't find it too bad at all, have you run a speed check to make sure you are getting 8mb?

 

Where I used to live I was with Virgin where I should of been getting 6mb, when I checked I was getting .26mb http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html?utm_source=mainsite&utm_medium=navigation&utm_campaign=speedtest&utm_content=sidebar

 

Virgin blame BT, BT blame Virgin, switched to idnet and got 5.6mb straight away, BT = Backward Twerps, blasted useless and shouldn't even exist, pocketing cash instead of investing in infrastructure, no, I don't like them much!!

 

I have a 3rd HDD that I backup to, that may help you, I run a SSD for my OS and programs, an HDD for my storage and another HDD for backing up to. Also worth backing up to an external HDD too.

[cichlidfan]

I have a 3rd HDD that I backup to, that may help you, I run a SSD for my OS and programs, an HDD for my storage and another HDD for backing up to. Also worth backing up to an external HDD too.

 

That mechanical disk for storage is almost a must. My desktop rigs are all SSD, for OS and applications/games with the addition of a 2TB mechanical drive (WD Black) which provides plenty of space for storage until it can be backed up elsewhere.