BleepingComputer.com: Problem Extracting Zip File

Hi everyone.

Im running XP Pro with 2x 160GB HDD i also have a 500GB External HDD with all my work, programs, pics, movies etc...

The external HDD was getting full so i decided that i would delete all the old crap i had hanging around, i copied all the files i wanted into one folder called backup then compressed (using the default settings) with tugzip, this took most of the day and when it was done i opened the archive and tested it using the tugzip explorer.

All seemed to be working, so with that done i copied the now 125GB Zip file to my C: drive and formatted my external HDD.

Now when i copied the file back to the HDD and attempted to extract it a window flashes for a second, (not long enough to get a good look at it) and wont go any further, if i choose the option of extract to: F:\backup it will create the empty folder called backup and thats it.

I read around on the tugzip support website saw some one who had a similar problem and they fixed it by making a self executable out of the existing zip file, gave that a go but when i tried to run it windows tells me thats its not a valid win32 application.

All my photos and important work are on here, please help.

Crumbs

Hello Crumbs and welcome.

That's strange, this could be a problem with the zip program. I would try using another archiving tool just to be sure http://www.7-zip.org/ is a very good tool.

7-Zip has certainly been a bit more informative, now it says that it cant open the file as an archive.

I thought there was a maximum file size of 4.0GB for a zip file.

I think that restriction applies to the old zip, as far as i understand zip-64 has just a HDD resource limitation.
I admit that i have no idea what kind of format the tugzip program uses,
though i would have assumed that it would mention that kind information prior to compressing.

Did you try 7zip? If you need to know the file format of the archive, go to control panel and open folder options, from there click the view tab and clear the hide extensions for known formats option.

Looks like they might be lost for good then.

oh well, such is life. Thanks for all your help

If 7zip was unable to open the archive, then the files may be lost. If that is the case you could try using data recovery software to recover the files.
http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recov....htm?language=1
http://www.pandorarecovery.com/
http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

Thanks, scanning as we speak...
or type.
:D

Ok, let us know how it turns out.

Looks like its going to be a success, it did its thing for 12 hours 29 minutes and 48 seconds, displays a long list of files i have deleted including the ones i need.

My girlfriend is excited because now she gets all her pictures back,
but,
lo and behold, when i click on the button that will 'undelete' my files, what should appear but a little screen saying: "user name and licence key please".
Now i know this is a shady area to discuss, but any help would be appreciated.

Recover My Files: Version 3.98 (6081)

Got it working, Thanks to everyone!
Big relief.

No problem, glad to help.

I agree with nigglesnush85 that if 7zip was unable to open the archieve so then the files may be lost. I'd recommend you try to use Advanced File Recovery. This program helped me to recover photos from my Nikon camera.

This won't be the most useful advice for the present, but for the future I would put things into smaller .zips for two reasons: 1. It is less likely to get corrupted than a 125gb file, and 2. if one .zip gets corrupted you still have the others.

If you have tried 7zip and it isn't working then the data might be lost.