A caution on using zip for backups

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A caution on using zip for backups
Authored by: jsumners on Nov 30, '06 07:55:29AM

Zip is not meant for backup purposes. It is meant to compress files for transfer. TAR (Tape ARchiver) is specifically designed for backing-up data/filesystems.

http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/

A caution on using zip for backups
Authored by: MtnBiker on Nov 30, '06 08:38:10AM

Apple doesn't seem to think so as they label the file by default Archive.zip.

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Hermosa Beach, CA USA

A caution on using zip for backups
Authored by: gslusher on Dec 04, '06 03:50:41PM

The fact that they label the file "Archive.zip" has nothing to do with "archiving" data. In compression systems, an "archive" means that it contains more than one file or folder. In fact, the "default" name used by the Finder if you archive ONE file or folder is the file or folder's name with .zip added. The only time you'll see "Archive.zip" is if you zip more than one thing at a time.

A caution on using TAR for backups
Authored by: hypert on Nov 30, '06 10:52:26AM

I made the mistake of tar'ing up some old Classic System Folders w/ tar, and everything got corrupted.

Finder's Archive, ditto, and rsyncx are now my tools.

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