Ok. This is the program I have for compression.



However, when compressing a folder to a .RAR file, I right click on the folder. However, there seems to be several options to choose from when trying to compress this. They are:

1. Add to Archive...

2. Add to "CD1.rar"

3. Compress and email...

4. Compress to "CD1.rar" and email

Anyway, I tried right clicking all these to hopefully know what's the difference between them. Right clicked the first one, and it was going to begin something, but instead of starting it I just closed it down.

The second option, I also right clicked, and then it immediately began compressing it, and the compression window at the top said "Creating archive CD1.rar"

I'm beginning to think all of these are the same, except that two of the options involve emailing the compressed file.

Is this true? Do all of these option create the same result in the end? I don't really care about the email part, just the compressed file.

Finally, one last question. When something is compressed to a .RAR file, it is obviously taking up less space on the hard drive.

However, when the contents of the compressed file is extracted, it brings out the same folder and its original size as well?

Like lets say I'm compressing a 2 GB folder, and the compressed file is 1.4 GB. If I extracted the compressed file, would a 2 GB folder come out of it, or would the folder be lighter in size?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Hello,

1: The usual way for "Add to Archive" and "Add to CD1.rar" to work is as follows:

Add to CD1.rar: Compresses the files to a .rar with normal settings, and the same name of the folder(s)/file(s).

Add to Archive: Opens a window asking for options such as encryption method (.rar, .zip, .7z etc.) and file name etc and by how much to compress. Compressing more means less space taken by archive, but longer to compress and decompress. There may be more settings such as algorithm to use, but ignore these (ie leave as default) unless you really know why you need to change them.

Therefore, you can either provide options and settings, in Add to Archive or just use the default settings in Add to CD1.rar. If you do not change any settings in Add to Archive, then the files created by each will be exactly the same.


2: If you extract an archive, then the files will go back to their original size (2GB in your example) and normal files/folders to open and edit in Windows Explorer.

Any more questions, just ask!

Richard

Yeah. Like someone else on the 7 forums, I have not been told what options 3 and 4 do, but thanks for telling me what the first two are.

they are so you can send the compressed file by e-mail to someone.

Sorry,

Options 3 + 4 do the same as one and two, then attach to a blank email ready for emailing.

Richard