Zip Folder

[Bill Martin]

My XP computer, using NTFS, has a facility to create a Zip folder into which
one can copy files in the normal drag and drop way. I don't really know if
this is part of XP or something which Dell installed before shipping the
machine. On the theory that it's part of XP:

Is there some limit to how much can be put into these folders? I try to zip
a couple hundred small files into one and it invariably chokes and stops part
way though the process with a message that the output file cannot be created.
In fact, each time it chokes the Zip archive is around 10MB which leads me to
wonder if this is an intrinsic limit? It seems rather small to be a built in
limit though. I've got about 15GB of empty space on the disk.

Thanks...

Bill

[Sharon F]

Bill Martin wrote:
> My XP computer, using NTFS, has a facility to create a Zip folder into
which
> one can copy files in the normal drag and drop way. I don't really know
if
> this is part of XP or something which Dell installed before shipping the
> machine. On the theory that it's part of XP:
>
> Is there some limit to how much can be put into these folders? I try to
zip
> a couple hundred small files into one and it invariably chokes and stops
> part way though the process with a message that the output file cannot be
> created. In fact, each time it chokes the Zip archive is around 10MB which
> leads me to wonder if this is an intrinsic limit? It seems rather small
to
> be a built in limit though. I've got about 15GB of empty space on the
disk.
>
> Thanks...
>
> Bill

Windows XP has its own zip program builtin. However, it's possible that Dell
may have installed another zip utility as well. Below is the only article I
found about a limit in "Compressed Folders" (the name used for the XP zip
utility):

Compressed Folder Becomes Corrupted When Larger than 4 Gigabytes
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301325

There Knowledge Base does have a few articles on other problems that may
surface (commas in file names for example). You may want to check those out
to see if any apply to your situation.

--
Sharon F
Microsoft MVP, Windows - Shell/User

[Bill Martin]

> Windows XP has its own zip program builtin. However, it's possible that Dell
> may have installed another zip utility as well. Below is the only article I
> found about a limit in "Compressed Folders" (the name used for the XP zip
> utility):
>
> Compressed Folder Becomes Corrupted When Larger than 4 Gigabytes
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301325
>
> There Knowledge Base does have a few articles on other problems that may
> surface (commas in file names for example). You may want to check those out
> to see if any apply to your situation.

Sorry for the delayed response - I've just gotten back to town. I have done
a little more experimenting. If I drop back to adding just one file at a
time, I can get the Zip file to be as big as about 11-12MB before the program
chokes which is a long way short of the 4 GB limit Microsoft talks about.
Perhaps the problem is more the number of files rather than the total size.

I'll look more closely at the file names, but I don't think there's anything
strange in them like commas or anything. Thanks for your help.

Bill

[Sharon F]

Bill Martin wrote:
>> Windows XP has its own zip program builtin. However, it's possible that
>> Dell may have installed another zip utility as well. Below is the only
>> article I found about a limit in "Compressed Folders" (the name used for
>> the XP zip utility):
>>
>> Compressed Folder Becomes Corrupted When Larger than 4 Gigabytes
>> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301325
>>
>> There Knowledge Base does have a few articles on other problems that may
>> surface (commas in file names for example). You may want to check those
out
>> to see if any apply to your situation.
>
> Sorry for the delayed response - I've just gotten back to town. I have
done
> a little more experimenting. If I drop back to adding just one file at a
> time, I can get the Zip file to be as big as about 11-12MB before the
> program chokes which is a long way short of the 4 GB limit Microsoft talks
> about. Perhaps the problem is more the number of files rather than the
> total size.
>
> I'll look more closely at the file names, but I don't think there's
anything
> strange in them like commas or anything. Thanks for your help.
>
> Bill

You're welcome, Bill.

--
Sharon F
Microsoft MVP, Windows - Shell/User