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CAN'T OPEN A ZIP FILE

I have an archive zip file of work. A zip file that I archived using the default utility in the Mac OS. The file will not open and never would from the day I archived it. I archived several folders of work that day, and they others open without issue. The folder in question goes through the motions of opening up but ultimately fails with a message "error code 1 - operation not permitted".

There are no locks or passwords associated with this file and the information window for the file shows that permissions are read and write for any users.

What could have gone wrong with this file?

Is there anyway at ALL that this data can be retrieved?

Since archiving seems to save only a small amount of data
size, is there any argument for archiving in the first place?

thanks,

—b

macbook pro 15", Mac OS X (10.5), hardly trouble free

Posted on Jan 25, 2009 12:57 PM

Reply
9 replies

Jan 25, 2009 2:29 PM in response to bonogun

There may be programs that can repair archives. Look for them at VersionTracker or MacUpdate. You might also try opening the archive with Stuffit or The Unarchiver, but if the archive is damaged they may also prove unsuccessful.

What can go wrong may include the archive was damaged when it was made, corrupted drive directories may result in damaged file creation, the archive was damaged when written to the portable media, etc.

If the archive is inaccessible then the data are unretrievable unless the originals are still where they were originally archived.

Well, if there was no compelling reason to archive the files in the first place, then why did you?

Jan 25, 2009 2:49 PM in response to bonogun

Stuffit Expander would likely be your best bet, but if the file is corrupted even that will probably not work.
Reference your final question in the post .. compressing files is generally NOT a good idea. Corruption is more likely to occur in the compression stage or decompressing stage than any other time of working with a file. Although not quite as dangerous as years ago still compressing files is very iffy at best.

Jan 25, 2009 5:22 PM in response to bonogun

I have tried stuffit expander and a couple of others to see if there would be any change in the lack of success with unzipping the file. None of them had worked and fail with an error message of their own that equates to a possible corruption issue.

I archived them in the first place, because they were files that I generated in a previous year here at university and needed to archive. The idea of "archiving" to me meant that I was basically boxing them up for use at some later date, but not something I had any intention of accessing on a regular basis. Now I'm developing my portfolio and there are a few works from that file that I need to include.

In the future I will never archive files again. I've never seen a significant reduction in file size by doing so, and if there's the risk of corruption in the process. Enough said. I will simply back up to external for quick access and burn to disc for "archiving" literally into a box somewhere.

For the one response that suggested "CLI", I can't figure out what you were instructing me to do.

thanks for the replies,

—b

Jan 25, 2009 6:29 PM in response to bonogun

open Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app If you have never run terminal, there might be a friendly warning there to be cool, per se on the command line. Now lets suppose your archive is located on your Desktop. Then type cd Desktop. Let's assume your archive is named test. Type: open test.zip to see if it works and if not then try unzip test.zip. probably wont work but I would try this last shot.

Jan 30, 2009 6:57 AM in response to bonogun

Some types of files are worth compressing to save space. The best example is text files that can be reduced to 20% of the original size without loss of data (unlike photo compression such as jpeg which throws out some data that can't be replaced when decompressed; same as for music in mp3 compression). Generally, you won't save a lot of space when compressing media files.

You can always loose data, compressed or not, to file corruption. It is wise, especially with valuable personal files, to check archived (compressed) files by opening them successfully after creating the archive file...and then save a back up of the archive file just as you would any valuable file.

If the archive is very important to you, best to test opening the archive file on another Mac or PC before you trash the original uncompressed files.

Finally, don't give up easily on recovering your files from the archive you made.

Good luck!

Mar 23, 2009 9:21 AM in response to wmowbray

wmowbray wrote:
Stuffit Expander would likely be your best bet, but if the file is corrupted even that will probably not work.
Reference your final question in the post .. compressing files is generally NOT a good idea. Corruption is more likely to occur in the compression stage or decompressing stage than any other time of working with a file. Although not quite as dangerous as years ago still compressing files is very iffy at best.


Adding to your comments, it's always best to compress a copy of the file and test it before deleting the uncompressed version. Better safe than sorry.

Message was edited by: nerowolfe

CAN'T OPEN A ZIP FILE

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