Are the Zip files from Toucan and 7Zip non-standard, or for some other reason not compatible with the Windows implementation?
(In my case) the backups from Toucan generate an error using the Windows XP Explore Archive command, as well as with the excellent freeware app Filzip which I have been using for years.
However, a test with 7Zip did not generate any errors.
Thanks.
(Moved to its own topic, since earlier question got lost. And this may be a 7Zip question more than Toucan.)
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I thought I commented in the other posting:
https://portableapps.com/node/21231#comment-131552
Unless you were looking for Steve to comment?
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
Your answer in the other thread was excellent, from a developer perspective.
(I think) the end-user question remains unanswered: are the ZIP files created by Toucan incompatible with the Windows implementation of ZIP compression? I'm seeing this behavior consistently (Toucan ZIP files fail to expand on anything except 7Zip).
If that's normal for Toucan, it may be fine, but it needs to be documented along with a list of expanders with which it is compatible. If it's not normal behavior for Toucan, then does the problem appear on other systems? Is it a bug? Because backup without restore is... well, you know.
Best,
Phil
(Win XP Pro, Running from PortableApps menu on portable USB hard drive)
work fine for me (although in Win7 and Vista), I think J Neutron was correct, somehow it is creating 7-Zip archives rather than Zip archives, can you just confirm that the format selected is Zip?
You are right - backup without being able to reverse the process is pretty senseless.
That being said, I was able to extract the zip file I made with Toucan by using any number of utilities, including the built-in one in my filemanager.
Could you please check to make sure that you've got Toucan making a zip file and using a zip extension? Some unarchiving utilities look at the extension to tell them what to do, instead of looking into the archive's header to get that information.
I think that the tool should make universally acceptable archives, as long as we aren't throwing curve-balls at it.
Having Toucan automatically assign the extension would eliminate that possible stumbling block.
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
Thanks for the feedback J Neutron and Steve.
Yes, confirmed the backups are being made in Zip format. However, they are large -- the most recent being 18 GB. Smaller files are expanding correctly.
Wikipedia tells us ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_%28file_format%29 ) that File Explorer in XP does not support the Zip64 format, a format which overcame limitations such as file size and which is supported in Vista (and Win7?). So I suspect it's just a case of the file size being too large for older tools.
This is probably old news to Steve. My apologies for not mentioning archive file size at the start.
Agree with the ideas about automatically assigning file extension. Would also lobby for J Neutron's explanation of the Restore procedure being added to the Help file ( https://portableapps.com/node/21231#comment-131557). Also suggest adding a discussion of Zip file sizes, if this conclusion is correct.
Best,
Phil
I've been playing some more with zip and 7z files and haven't been able to break anything.
Something I did notice is that Universal Extractor 1.6 uses 7z version 4.57 whereas Toucan and 7-ZipPortable use version 4.65. This might have some bearing on Universal Extractor stumbling on that test I did a day or so ago.
Checking the 7-Zip website, there were updates to Unicode support mentioned in the 4.58 version and many unspecified bugs at each step up to 4.65.
Maybe the archive I played with (a program directory that no longer exists, so I can't recreate the exact issue) had the Unicode thing going on. Maybe it was something else. Don't know....
But I do know that tools out there, including Toucan and archive programs, should be kept current but many pieces aren't updated in a timely manner. Perhaps the issue you are seeing results from an older tool?
If that's the problem, it can't be attributed to Toucan.
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
Agreed, limitations in other tools are not the responsibility or fault of Toucan.
However, the documentation is attributable to Toucan (or whichever app). If it becomes clear that in fact the Win XP implementation of Zip technology cannot handle archives greater than 4GB as Wikipedia suggests, then XP is still important enough to include that in the Toucan documentation.... because of the importance of Restore. So my call is to give Restore as much attention in the documentation as Backup has been given.
Thanks for the help!
Phil
Yeah, I *like* docs.
(And doing my best Groucho Marx) I like the nurses better!
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com