Windows compression power?

Hi Guys,
I did a suitcase back up folder, and I chose to compress it from windows (properties-advanced). However, the compression is almost nothing, and the size is almost exactly the original size. I put more than 30000 files there and I'm sure several of them would be reduced by Winrar or so (many are documents), but the total reduction given by the winXP compression is only around 10 Mb out of 20 Gb.
Any idea why such a low reduction level of the compressed folder?
Thanks.

 

it all depends on file types. Some files like JPG and AVI / MPG are already compressed and as such will not shrink

The other thing to remember is that programs like WinRAR etc are specialised programs that do nothing but compress, windows file compression has to balance speed against size and also stay within things like sector size when compressing files.

 

As the last poster said, certain files will just not compress much further - I know from experience that JPEGs generally cannot be compressed much further than the uncompressed version of the file, either using WinRAR or the native Win compression software.

 

try to use kgb archiver.

 

Well, a lot of files are text.
bom5, about KGB, the idea is to maintain the file structure. I could have use ie. Norton Ghost but I'm afraid of putting all the eggs in one basket: If one file fails, everything does. As for windows, it compress keeping the structure, so if one file fails, the others are fine.

 

You may have noticed that your files will be smaller than the space used (under properties)

The more files and the "deeper" your folder, the greater the difference gets - this is because Windows saves the file structure somewhere else...

Now: I believe the standard Windows compression only gets rid of this difference - thus you don't really see a difference.

If you want to actually compress a folder, it won't work for all file types as Qwakrz has pointed out, but rightclick the folder, "send to" "zip compressed folder"

That will create a WinZip archive

 

Thanks, though again, the idea is not having all my files (over 30000) in a single compress file. Otherwise it is too risky, if that file gets corrupted

 

Well - when you use the MS Zip function on Vista all files in the Zip archive are a copy. Or you could generate several smaller archives....

 

I see. I have Xp though. On the other hand several smaller archives on my case are 30000. So way too many. Thanks anyway.

 

Just thinking:
WinRar wold be able to create RAR archives...
That may be an idea - its similar to WinZip in the basics for most users.

(Yes, I know, there are dfferences, but for most people they wont matter)

 

So why not do something like making compressed backup copies of each major directory, and either storing them on an external drive, or burning them to CD/DVD, with something like Acronis True Image?

 

Not too long ago, an Acronis file I did got corrupted, and I couldn't recover anything. Fortunately I had another backup, but I learned the lesson. I don't think is a good idea to put all the backup in a single file. And several folders, takes too long. Imagine updating them.