Mac Forum / General / General / February 2006

I'm running 10.4.5 on a 1.25 GHz 20" iMac with 768 MB of RAM.  I am looking
for the most effective (and free) way to compress files so I can backup
folders onto one CD.

I tried several methods.  Here's what I did: I took 3 folders -- 1 with
mostly JPEGs and other pic formats (369 MB); 1 with mostly Word documents
(though some had JPEGs in them) and PowerPoint docs with JPEGs in them (330
MB); and 1 with mostly PDFs and straight Word docs (442 MB) -- and I put
them into a new folder called "CompressTest" that weighed in at 1,141 MB,
then tried the Archive function in Disk Utility and got almost no
compression (only down to 1,020 MB).  So I tried using the Mac OS 10.4.5
Create Archive function under the Finder's File menu, but I got the same
results.  

I later tried to use Disk Utility to make that folder into a .dmg disk
image, but twice I got errors (the error read: "Unable to create
"CompressTest" - error 49168").

Then I downloaded the trial version of Stuffit Deluxe and one by one tried
the .sitx, .tar and .zip compression routines, and the best archive size I
got was 982 MB (.sitx).  I just read that the latest DropStuff supposedly
can compress JPEGS by up to an additional 30% without any change in quality.
You think that's marketing BS?  How does Stuffit Standard or Deluxe compare
to any free solutions?  I don't want to spend any money on this because I
will use it so infrequently and pretty much only for doing CD backups, but I
never know what new computer uses I will encounter in the future.  I tried a
few freeware solutions, but got the same results.

Is there a better free way to such compress folders so I can backup MORE
than 700 MB of data on a CD-RW?  Am I doing something wrong?

Also, when using OS X's Archive function, does it matter (in terms of
compression) whether I select whole folders instead of all the files inside
them?  I have maybe 5 folders filled with 200-ish files, and the archive
function only compressed them down to 95% of their original size, which I
did by selecting the 5 folders and then hitting the Archive command in the
Finder.  Does it work better if I expand the folders and then click on all
the files inside instead of just the folders' icons?

Thanks.