[AccessD] OT RE: Rar vs winzip

jwcolby jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Tue Feb 12 11:38:53 CST 2008


Yep, and that is precisely what happened.  FAST though. 


John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com 
-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 12:30 PM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT RE: Rar vs winzip

Hi John:

My understanding is that RAR is a multi-threaded app and therefore will
perform faster than WinZip. The problem is that multi-thread apps tend to
suck resources from any other application that may be trying to run at the
same time on the same system.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 4:33 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT RE: Rar vs winzip

That is an interesting suggestion.  However RAR took one fourth as long so
it is not just the swap file. 


John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com
-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Michael Bahr
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 6:25 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT RE: Rar vs winzip

Hi John, so are you saying it takes Winzip over 4 DAYS??  Well I think I
know what your problem is.........swap file.  I ran across this about 5
years ago.  I had a 1.5 GB zip file of plain text.  Of course being text it
compressed very well.  Although I still had ~4 GB free space WinZip wants to
unzip into the temp folder and then move it to your desired folder.  That
meant at least 2 times the uncompressed size.

So I bet that is your problem, lack of swap/page file space.  That means a
tremendous amount of disk swapping is occuring.  As a test take a 160-250
empty (formatted) HD and make that your swap file.  Tell Windows to remove
your current virtual memory and move it to the HD and specify the full size.
Windows might complain but who cares, right?

Right click on My Comuter | Advanced | Performance Settings | Advanced Tab
| Virtual memory Change.

Your overall performace should also increase.

Mike...


> Mike,
>
> LOL, I know all of that.  I was just posting an "interesting (and 
> maybe
> valuable) to know" kind of email.  I wasn't expecting anything like 
> the response I received.
>
> Let me tell you something.  I zipped a hundred gig file.  It took RAR 
> about
> 28 HOURS to zip it.  It takes Winzip about FOUR times as long to do 
> the same.  I scheduled it to RAR over the weekend, not over lunch!
> ;-)
>
> I was just pointing out that is useful to know your options.  I would 
> NEVER schedule a RAR during a time that I had to use the computer.
> OTOH I would schedule a Winzip when I had to use the computer.  I 
> would NEVER try to Winzip a 100g file.  It would just take so many 
> days that it would be silly to even contemplate.  I have 400 gigs of 
> data I want to zip up (or RAR up).
> Using Winzip is a non starter.  It would be next Christmas before it 
> got done.  BUT... I also have to be careful to not do the RAR while I 
> need the computer.
>
> Again, it is just useful to know what choices I have and how they 
> effect how I work.
>
> In this day and age, I would expect such utilities to allow me to 
> designate a % of total CPU power to apply to the task.  Neither one 
> does TTBOMK, though I haven't gone looking either.
>
> John W. Colby
> Colby Consulting
> www.ColbyConsulting.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Michael 
> Bahr
> Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 12:34 PM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT RE: Rar vs winzip
>
> John, RAR is not as popular as is WinZip.  You would forcing others to 
> purchase RAR to uncompress your files.  That could be annoying.  Also, 
> one of the many reasons for the multi-core processors is so that you 
> can do multiple things at one time stretched across the processors 
> which is suppose to make you more productive; this is different from 
> single core processors.
> But if an application consumes all processors then I would have to 
> think that is a flaw unless there is specifically an option to use one 
> or more processors.
>
> If you are concerned about the zipping time then schedule it for 
> lunch/dinner or ...
>
> Mike...
>
>> Jim,
>>
>> Actually the focus wasn't how it uses a quad core specifically but 
>> rather that RAR seems to make better use of multi-core (multi-thread) 
>> in general, how that effects the speed of getting a file zipped up, 
>> and how that effects processor usage.  Since I work from a home 
>> office, I have used Winzip a LOT to ship Access files back and forth 
>> from my clients.  Often times the time to zip up the files gets 
>> excessive, I have a client with total data BEs approaching a gig.  I 
>> just thought it might be useful information to those of us who face 
>> this problem.  I will certainly be using RAR from this point on when 
>> I need to get a big file zipped in a hurry.  OTOH it pretty much 
>> consumes the processor so I will NOT use it if I need to be working 
>> on other things simultaneously.
>>
>> I just found it an interesting comparison between the two products 
>> and how they effect what I do.  In fact I happened (at the time) to 
>> be zipping huge SQL Server databases for archiving, but as you 
>> pointed out, the file type is indeed irrelevant.
>>
>> John W. Colby
>> Colby Consulting
>> www.ColbyConsulting.com
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
>> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim 
>> Dettman
>> Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 5:41 PM
>> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
>> Subject: [AccessD] OT RE: Rar vs winzip
>>
>> Bobby,
>>
>>   The focus though wasn't in working with databases per say, but how 
>> WinZip and RAR works with a quad core processor.  The file type 
>> really is a moot point.
>>
>> Jim,
>
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> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
>


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