Freeware Compression Tool to create 700MB spans?

[Christianb 8]

Hi Gang,

I would like to know if anyone knows of a freeware compression tool that'll let me compress a mutli-gigabyte data set into a set of 700MB files. I want to burn them to a CD you see. The only tool I know of that'll do this is WinRar and I'm not crazy about WinRar and since that's the only thing I keep using it for I would like to find a freeware alternative rather than registering a program that to me isn't worth the money.

Cheers,

Christian Blackburn

[Silver-Dagger 0]

Check out this program:

http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/freefile/story/0,24330,3425537,00.html

[Christianb 8]

Hi Silver Dagger,

Actually that was the first program I tried. I didn't see any functionality to do that with. Did I miss it? Also the Explorer context menus in that application are hosed.

Thanks for the tip,

Christian Blackburn

[duhmez 0]

Filzip. www.filzip.com

Free(at least for now) supports ace,rar,cab, and all the rest.

 

Also check out 7-zip

www.7-zip.org it is GPL software and always will be free.

[nebulus 0]

I don't think 7-zip supports multi-volume.. at least yet.

But you can split file into fixed-size parts and then compress them using your favourite archiver. Take a look at UnxUtils and split's man pages.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Gang,

You're absolutely right 7-Zip doesn't support volume spans otherwise I'd be done already. I love 7-Zip compression and have the main app currently installed. PS v.3.12 just came out.

 

Also I'll take a look at FilZip and the Open Source utils.

Cheers,

Christian Blackburn

[clutch 1]

Try Izarc:

 

http://www.izsoft.dir.bg/izarc.htm

[Christianb 8]

Hi Clutch,

Thanks for the suggestion Silver Dagger already recommended that though it's hard to tell unless you follow his URL. I would like to repeat my question to him. Does it support archive spanning? I just tried it two days ago and saw no such feature.

 

I did notice that CuteZip will split an already made zip file into a specified size of Zip spans. I've always hated CuteZip though, because the author focusses too much on UI and graphics and rather than intuitive functionality and more importantly stability. I kept trying it for a long time thinking he'd make a stable build, but he never does.

Thanks,

Christian Blackburn

[tsonta101 0]

try WinAce (www.winace.com), it supports spanning for popular media (3.5 disk, zip disk etc) and you can specify the size (in kb) you want it to span the archive. freeware/shareware too...

[clutch 1]

If you go to the features section of the site, you should see this:

 

Create an archive

Add files to an existing archive

Delete files from an existing archive

Extract files from an existing archive

Test an archive file

Convert archive

Repair broken archive

Searching for any files in many archives

Favorite Folders

Obtaining a detailed list of files and information like compression rate, path, or size from an archive file

Supports both long and short 8.3 filenames

 

Disk spanning from and to multiple diskettes or other removable media

 

Implementing the possibility to sort the list items by name size, date and etc.

 

Full Drag & Drop support

Integrating in Windows Explorer context menu

Automatic installation of most software distributed in archive files

Add/View comments in an archive

By double-clicking onto a file in the file list, it's opened with the program associated to this file type

CheckOut feature

 

Create a self-extracting archive

E-mail an archive

Checking for new updates

Build-in multilanguage support

Virus Scan feature

UU/XX/MIME Encode/Decode

Create Multi-Volume Set

Merge Multi-Volume Set

UnSFX (Convert self-extracting (SFX) .EXE files to standard archives)

Encrypt files using Rijandael - AES (256-bits) encryption

Decrypt (.ize) files

 

I would imagine that is what you are looking for.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Tsonta,

Thanks for trying to help. No offense, but there's a night and day difference between freeware and shareware.

Cheers,

Christian Blackburn

[clutch 1]

If you open the app, go Tools > Create Multi-Volume set. You can then browse out an existing zip archive and span it to any size break you want. Very easy.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Clutch,

Thanks for letting me know. I actually saw that amidst your last post, but hadn't had the time to try it and give a response. Thanks for shortening your response though and when I get a chance I'll mostl likely give it a go. Though I'm leaning towards CuteZip since I've used it more. Has anyone had a chance to compare the two and if so what were your conclusions?

 

Cheers,

Christian Blackburn

[tsonta101 0]

Quote:

No offense, but there's a night and day difference between freeware and shareware

none taken, but i couldn't be asked checking whether WinAce was shareware or freeware.... it's all down to me being very lazy these days...

[Tomay 0]

I'm sure winrar would do the trick but it's not free so try arj32 http://www.arjsoft.com/files.htm it's a command line tool but I think it'll do.

 

the command would be something like

arj32 a test.arj *.* /v700M /y

 

the /y switch answers yes when asked to proceed with next volume.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Tomay,

Thanks for your suggestion and providing a freeware option. I will download it. However, I personally think command-line tools are only good for repetitive actions or programmers. I wish their was a UI version of this . I did wind up using IZarc to split the files though. I will try your suggestion next time Tomay. However, I'm sure I'll wind up needing to split some 800MB avi file across multiple CDs some time in the future. Your .Rar based solution would be better than IzArc since it's span archives are .Zip only. I wish somebody would create a 7-Zip span tool. Hell I don't even know if the format supports spans. However that would strike me as funny if it didn't since 7-Zip is probably the most recent format and should have the most features, not be missing some of the most important ones.

Cheers,

Christian Blackburn

[duhmez 0]

I am the savior!

HJsplit.

http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/

it will split any binary file regardless of type, and make a little batchfile that will rejoin them. All major OS supported.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Tomay,

I took at look at our Arj32 and it's looks to be $45 dollars. Is it free for personal use or did they just change their tune?

http://www.arjsoft.com/newarj32.htm

 

Thanks,

Christian Blackburn