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The solution for my long file names problem.



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 26th 03, 12:40 PM
John Corliss
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default The solution for my long file names problem.

My project consisted of getting 2 gb worth of .jpg, .txt and .doc
files with really long names and complex (long names again) folder
structures onto 4 CDRs. As suggested by Ric, I zipped all the files in
my project into 4 big zip files, each about 500 mb. This preserves the
long file names when the archive is extracted to a Windows based
machine's hard drive (W95 or better only.)
The dilemma I faced now however, is that the people I wanted to
distribute the project to (my relatives) may or may not be up to
figuring out how to use a program like Winzip to access the files.
They're not all computer freaks like me.
Then this morning, I found a nice little freeware program called
"SE Maker" that creates self extracting executables from .zip files.
Extraction from the executables is to a folder of your choice (which
you program into the executable when you create it) and if that folder
doesn't exist, the executable creates it. Also, any folder structure
in the archive is preserved in the extracted results!
The files it creates can be usually (if not always) be opened in
zip programs (like Winzip for instance) as well. That way, you can
select the files you want to extract from the archive.

The home page for the program is down, but you can still download the
program he

http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/semkr100.html

The download is 853 kb. The program SE Maker, and all of the
executable files it creates are free.

Note: you will need a zip program first to create the zip files. This
program only converts zip files to SE files.

My heartfelt thanks again to Ric for his solution to my problem. Life
is good again.

--
Regards from John Corliss

  #2  
Old July 26th 03, 07:31 PM
Mike Richter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

John Corliss wrote:
My project consisted of getting 2 gb worth of .jpg, .txt and .doc
files with really long names and complex (long names again) folder
structures onto 4 CDRs. As suggested by Ric, I zipped all the files in
my project into 4 big zip files, each about 500 mb. This preserves the
long file names when the archive is extracted to a Windows based
machine's hard drive (W95 or better only.)
The dilemma I faced now however, is that the people I wanted to
distribute the project to (my relatives) may or may not be up to
figuring out how to use a program like Winzip to access the files.
They're not all computer freaks like me.
Then this morning, I found a nice little freeware program called "SE
Maker" that creates self extracting executables from .zip files.
Extraction from the executables is to a folder of your choice (which you
program into the executable when you create it) and if that folder
doesn't exist, the executable creates it. Also, any folder structure in
the archive is preserved in the extracted results!
The files it creates can be usually (if not always) be opened in zip
programs (like Winzip for instance) as well. That way, you can select
the files you want to extract from the archive.

The home page for the program is down, but you can still download the
program he

http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/semkr100.html

The download is 853 kb. The program SE Maker, and all of the executable
files it creates are free.

Note: you will need a zip program first to create the zip files. This
program only converts zip files to SE files.

My heartfelt thanks again to Ric for his solution to my problem. Life is
good again.


Most zip-type programs will create self-extracting EXEs such as you
describe; I'm glad you found one that suits you.

However, you may want to reconsider those 500-MB zips for that project.
Unpacking 500 MB to the hard drive to retrieve one or two files will not
delight the user. If you break the collection into separate zips of,
say, 50 MB and characterize the file in the name (e.g., animals.zip),
they will be more usable.

Mike
--

http://www.mrichter.com/

  #3  
Old July 26th 03, 08:03 PM
smh
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Have you tried RecordNow MAX?
WinZip can create self-extracting archives.


John Corliss wrote:

My project consisted of getting 2 gb worth of .jpg, .txt and .doc
files with really long names and complex (long names again) folder
structures onto 4 CDRs. As suggested by Ric, I zipped all the files in
my project into 4 big zip files, each about 500 mb. This preserves the
long file names when the archive is extracted to a Windows based
machine's hard drive (W95 or better only.)
The dilemma I faced now however, is that the people I wanted to
distribute the project to (my relatives) may or may not be up to
figuring out how to use a program like Winzip to access the files.
They're not all computer freaks like me.
Then this morning, I found a nice little freeware program called
"SE Maker" that creates self extracting executables from .zip files.
Extraction from the executables is to a folder of your choice (which
you program into the executable when you create it) and if that folder
doesn't exist, the executable creates it. Also, any folder structure
in the archive is preserved in the extracted results!
The files it creates can be usually (if not always) be opened in
zip programs (like Winzip for instance) as well. That way, you can
select the files you want to extract from the archive.

The home page for the program is down, but you can still download the
program he

http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/semkr100.html

The download is 853 kb. The program SE Maker, and all of the
executable files it creates are free.

Note: you will need a zip program first to create the zip files. This
program only converts zip files to SE files.

My heartfelt thanks again to Ric for his solution to my problem. Life
is good again.

--
Regards from John Corliss


  #4  
Old July 27th 03, 03:28 AM
mike
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

John Corliss wrote:
My project consisted of getting 2 gb worth of .jpg, .txt and .doc
files with really long names and complex (long names again) folder
structures onto 4 CDRs. As suggested by Ric, I zipped all the files in
my project into 4 big zip files, each about 500 mb. This preserves the
long file names when the archive is extracted to a Windows based
machine's hard drive (W95 or better only.)
The dilemma I faced now however, is that the people I wanted to
distribute the project to (my relatives) may or may not be up to
figuring out how to use a program like Winzip to access the files.
They're not all computer freaks like me.
Then this morning, I found a nice little freeware program called "SE
Maker" that creates self extracting executables from .zip files.
Extraction from the executables is to a folder of your choice (which you
program into the executable when you create it) and if that folder
doesn't exist, the executable creates it. Also, any folder structure in
the archive is preserved in the extracted results!
The files it creates can be usually (if not always) be opened in zip
programs (like Winzip for instance) as well. That way, you can select
the files you want to extract from the archive.

The home page for the program is down, but you can still download the
program he

http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/semkr100.html

The download is 853 kb. The program SE Maker, and all of the executable
files it creates are free.

Note: you will need a zip program first to create the zip files. This
program only converts zip files to SE files.

My heartfelt thanks again to Ric for his solution to my problem. Life is
good again.


Pkware has/had a program zip2exe that converted their zip files to self
extracting.
There's a shareware program, totalcommander, that will let you work
inside zip files just like any directory.
mike

--
Bunch of stuff For Sale and Wanted at the link below.
400cc Dirt Bike 2003 miles $495
Police Scanner, Color LCD overhead projector
Tek 2465 $800, ham radio, 30pS pulser
Tektronix Concept Books, spot welding head...
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/4710/

  #5  
Old July 29th 03, 12:54 AM
Ric
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I'm not terribly familiar with zip files, but if you were to open the zip
file in a program like winzip and extract just one, does it have to unpack
everything up to that file to get at it, or can it just jump directly to the
part of the zip file containing the file of interest and unpack only that
one? I believe with the .rar format there is an option explicitly for this,
ie. you can get slightly better compression at the expense of not being able
to randomly extract from the archive, making things very slow if you're
trying to get at just one file that happened to be packed near the end of
the rar file. Assuming that zip lets you randomly access archived files, it
doesn't seem to me that having multiple files necessarily simplifies life.
Of course, for a project that large, you probably want to have a well
organized folder structure, so it probably wouldn't hurt to have multiple
zip files either, which could be logically organized according to the folder
structure of the unarchived files.

Another thing to consider, is it may be worth knowing what OS(es) the
recipients of the CDs will be using. If they're using XP, and haven't
specifically disabled the feature, the contents of zip files show up in
explorer as if they were folders. I mention this because, this might be an
easier method of access than a self-extracting archive, and I'm not entirely
sure whether or not XP recognizes a self-extracting archive in the same way
as a normal archive. The default file search in XP (and I believe most of
this is true with ME as well) will search within zip files, which again may
be a handy way to find files in the archive without extracting the whole
thing. Needless to say, if any of them have intentionally disabled zip
integration or the changed the default search behaviour, they are more than
competent to extract the files without help. Needless to say, for
convenience and speed, it will be much better to have a local copy on the
harddrive, which makes your solution just fine if that is the ultimate
intent.

Personally, I've just been using non-standard ISO formats (from RecordNow
max) when I need long filename support. However, I've recently been
revisiting old CDs and find that I can't read certain non-standard sessions
I had created years, which at the time read fine. This is making me
reconsider the use of non-standard formats, out of the fear that at some
point in the future, my archives will no longer be compatible with my OS. I
think the answer, is a well supported standard that includes long filename
support. From my understanding, the current implementation of UDF already
supports filenames to the same extent as the most common OSes do (Windows,
Mac, *NIX). Sadly, I've not found any software that implements this feature,
even though most of them support writing UDF formatted CDs. I'm unclear on
why this hasn't been a priority, but I'd much rather see a solid and
universal support of long filenames (it's really about time) than having
every audio, video editing feature thrown into a CD burning package. Extra
features are always nice, but a commitment to a solid core is even nicer.

Ric

"Mike Richter" wrote in message
...
John Corliss wrote:
My project consisted of getting 2 gb worth of .jpg, .txt and .doc
files with really long names and complex (long names again) folder
structures onto 4 CDRs. As suggested by Ric, I zipped all the files in
my project into 4 big zip files, each about 500 mb. This preserves the
long file names when the archive is extracted to a Windows based
machine's hard drive (W95 or better only.)
The dilemma I faced now however, is that the people I wanted to
distribute the project to (my relatives) may or may not be up to
figuring out how to use a program like Winzip to access the files.
They're not all computer freaks like me.
Then this morning, I found a nice little freeware program called "SE
Maker" that creates self extracting executables from .zip files.
Extraction from the executables is to a folder of your choice (which you
program into the executable when you create it) and if that folder
doesn't exist, the executable creates it. Also, any folder structure in
the archive is preserved in the extracted results!
The files it creates can be usually (if not always) be opened in zip
programs (like Winzip for instance) as well. That way, you can select
the files you want to extract from the archive.

The home page for the program is down, but you can still download the
program he

http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/semkr100.html

The download is 853 kb. The program SE Maker, and all of the executable
files it creates are free.

Note: you will need a zip program first to create the zip files. This
program only converts zip files to SE files.

My heartfelt thanks again to Ric for his solution to my problem. Life is
good again.


Most zip-type programs will create self-extracting EXEs such as you
describe; I'm glad you found one that suits you.

However, you may want to reconsider those 500-MB zips for that project.
Unpacking 500 MB to the hard drive to retrieve one or two files will not
delight the user. If you break the collection into separate zips of,
say, 50 MB and characterize the file in the name (e.g., animals.zip),
they will be more usable.

Mike
--

http://www.mrichter.com/



  #6  
Old July 29th 03, 06:33 AM
smh
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Ric wrote:

Personally, I've just been using non-standard ISO formats (from RecordNow
max) when I need long filename support. However, I've recently been
revisiting old CDs and find that I can't read certain non-standard sessions
I had created years [ago], which at the time read fine. This is making me
reconsider the use of non-standard formats, out of the fear that at some
point in the future, my archives will no longer be compatible with my OS.


Puzzled by your use of "years" when you learned of RecordNow MAX only
one year ago:

=====================
From: "ric"
Subject: Anyway to overcome filename limitations?
Date: 7/9/02

I also gave RecordNow MAX a try. The ISO long format seems to be
what I want, assuming it works.
=====================

Were the unreadable cd's indeed burnt by RecordNow?

I
think the answer, is a well supported standard that includes long filename
support. From my understanding, the current implementation of UDF already
supports filenames to the same extent as the most common OSes do (Windows,
Mac, *NIX). Sadly, I've not found any software that implements this feature,
even though most of them support writing UDF formatted CDs. I'm unclear on
why this hasn't been a priority, but I'd much rather see a solid and
universal support of long filenames (it's really about time) than having
every audio, video editing feature thrown into a CD burning package. Extra
features are always nice, but a commitment to a solid core is even nicer.


Also puzzled with your "not found" software statement. InstantWrite
supports names up to 255 chars per the UDF standard. You learned of it
in the same thread I quoted above, and you even used it.
supported names up to 255 chars per the UDF standard.

Here's another post conforming InstantWrite supports names up to 255
chars:
===========================
From: louise
Subject: Best Packet CD Writer program?
Date: 5/24/02

I've ended up with Instant CD/DVD by VOB because its packet
writing allows for long filenames up to 255 characters.
===========================

  #7  
Old July 29th 03, 07:08 AM
someone
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Try using the latest version of CDRWin v3.9D it can make ISO9660,
ISO9660+UDF, and UDF disks. These UDF disks are write once, using the UDF
format, not the unreliable packet writing ****.


"Ric" wrote in message
...
I'm not terribly familiar with zip files, but if you were to open the zip
file in a program like winzip and extract just one, does it have to unpack
everything up to that file to get at it, or can it just jump directly to

the
part of the zip file containing the file of interest and unpack only that
one? I believe with the .rar format there is an option explicitly for

this,
ie. you can get slightly better compression at the expense of not being

able
to randomly extract from the archive, making things very slow if you're
trying to get at just one file that happened to be packed near the end of
the rar file. Assuming that zip lets you randomly access archived files,

it
doesn't seem to me that having multiple files necessarily simplifies life.
Of course, for a project that large, you probably want to have a well
organized folder structure, so it probably wouldn't hurt to have multiple
zip files either, which could be logically organized according to the

folder
structure of the unarchived files.

Another thing to consider, is it may be worth knowing what OS(es) the
recipients of the CDs will be using. If they're using XP, and haven't
specifically disabled the feature, the contents of zip files show up in
explorer as if they were folders. I mention this because, this might be an
easier method of access than a self-extracting archive, and I'm not

entirely
sure whether or not XP recognizes a self-extracting archive in the same

way
as a normal archive. The default file search in XP (and I believe most of
this is true with ME as well) will search within zip files, which again

may
be a handy way to find files in the archive without extracting the whole
thing. Needless to say, if any of them have intentionally disabled zip
integration or the changed the default search behaviour, they are more

than
competent to extract the files without help. Needless to say, for
convenience and speed, it will be much better to have a local copy on the
harddrive, which makes your solution just fine if that is the ultimate
intent.

Personally, I've just been using non-standard ISO formats (from RecordNow
max) when I need long filename support. However, I've recently been
revisiting old CDs and find that I can't read certain non-standard

sessions
I had created years, which at the time read fine. This is making me
reconsider the use of non-standard formats, out of the fear that at some
point in the future, my archives will no longer be compatible with my OS.

I
think the answer, is a well supported standard that includes long filename
support. From my understanding, the current implementation of UDF already
supports filenames to the same extent as the most common OSes do (Windows,
Mac, *NIX). Sadly, I've not found any software that implements this

feature,
even though most of them support writing UDF formatted CDs. I'm unclear on
why this hasn't been a priority, but I'd much rather see a solid and
universal support of long filenames (it's really about time) than having
every audio, video editing feature thrown into a CD burning package. Extra
features are always nice, but a commitment to a solid core is even nicer.

Ric

"Mike Richter" wrote in message
...
John Corliss wrote:
My project consisted of getting 2 gb worth of .jpg, .txt and .doc
files with really long names and complex (long names again) folder
structures onto 4 CDRs. As suggested by Ric, I zipped all the files in
my project into 4 big zip files, each about 500 mb. This preserves the
long file names when the archive is extracted to a Windows based
machine's hard drive (W95 or better only.)
The dilemma I faced now however, is that the people I wanted to
distribute the project to (my relatives) may or may not be up to
figuring out how to use a program like Winzip to access the files.
They're not all computer freaks like me.
Then this morning, I found a nice little freeware program called

"SE
Maker" that creates self extracting executables from .zip files.
Extraction from the executables is to a folder of your choice (which

you
program into the executable when you create it) and if that folder
doesn't exist, the executable creates it. Also, any folder structure

in
the archive is preserved in the extracted results!
The files it creates can be usually (if not always) be opened in

zip
programs (like Winzip for instance) as well. That way, you can select
the files you want to extract from the archive.

The home page for the program is down, but you can still download the
program he

http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/semkr100.html

The download is 853 kb. The program SE Maker, and all of the

executable
files it creates are free.

Note: you will need a zip program first to create the zip files. This
program only converts zip files to SE files.

My heartfelt thanks again to Ric for his solution to my problem. Life

is
good again.


Most zip-type programs will create self-extracting EXEs such as you
describe; I'm glad you found one that suits you.

However, you may want to reconsider those 500-MB zips for that project.
Unpacking 500 MB to the hard drive to retrieve one or two files will not
delight the user. If you break the collection into separate zips of,
say, 50 MB and characterize the file in the name (e.g., animals.zip),
they will be more usable.

Mike
--

http://www.mrichter.com/






  #8  
Old July 29th 03, 03:27 PM
Ric
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"someone" wrote in message
news
Try using the latest version of CDRWin v3.9D it can make ISO9660,
ISO9660+UDF, and UDF disks. These UDF disks are write once, using the UDF
format, not the unreliable packet writing ****.


I haven't tried CDRWin in a long while. Does its implementation of UDF allow
for 255 character path/filenames?
Does it finally have a useful GUI?

Thanks,
Ric


  #9  
Old July 29th 03, 08:23 PM
smh
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

.. --------------------------------------
Mike Richter, were you born with
"Scam Artist" emblazoned on your face?
--------------------------------------
( Reduced to living off the trash? )
( ... my thanks to Tim ... )


===============================
From: "BrianT"
Subject: Loosing Disk Space {formatting CDRW}
Date: 5/8/03

Mike Richter (Hit&Run) wrote...

The space you are losing is due to sectors found to be unreliable.
It's a good sign that the disc is developing errors and is ready
for the trash. You'll also find that formatting gets slower; it
takes time to retry verification and to mark the bad sectors.

===============================


===============================================
Mike Richter & "Looooooooonng" Time for Nothing
===============================================

=====================
From: Mike Richter (cRoxio Shill)
Subject: roxio direct CD
Date: 6/30/02

When DCD formats, it reads back each sector
to be sure it's well prepared.

With a mismatch, many sectors fail which means
formatting takes a looooooooonng time ...
=====================

After the "looooooooonng" time, the least you'd expect is the media is
"proven." Nah, not with DirectCD.

====================================
From: Mike Richter (cRoxio Shill)
Subject: Help! Can't copy files to Direct CD
Date: 9/30/02

I'm having a problem with Direct CD. I think it started when I
upgraded to 5.3.1.154. I upgraded again to 5.3.1.154 SP4,
hoping that would fix it, but it's the same.


It is more likely due to a problem with your medium than with the
updates. Are you writing to erasables or write-once blanks? Your
symptoms are familiar to those trying to write fixed-length packets

to an unproven medium.
=====================================

After all that "looooooooonng" time, the medium is still "unproven" !!!

Why waste "looooooooonng" time then ???!!!

-------------------------
cRoxio - What a Joke !!!
-------------------------

  #10  
Old July 29th 03, 09:33 PM
smh
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Ric wrote:

So what is the state
of packet writing these days? What's the safest program to use?


Things have not changed with DirectCD and Drag-to-Disc -- as the UDF
1.50 standard has not changed. The "faulty" UDF 1.50 standard was the
reason why none other than a cRoxio Shill rejected DirectCD. (And the
same reason applies to Drag-to-Disc as well.)

=====================
From: Mike Richter (cRoxio Shill)
Subject: Best packetwriting software?
Date: 8/19/02

I have used only DCD for packet writing,
have had no problems due to the software -

but too many due to the format itself

to bother with it any longer.

=====================
From: Mike Richter (cRoxio Shill)
Date: 6/17/02

uninstalled DCD
when I stopped testing for Roxio
=====================

The above Mikey's statement is the first ever case in which a Shill is
rejecting the very product IT is shilling for.

With a Shill like this, cRoxio doesn't need any critics!

--------------------------
cRoxio, Eat Your Heart Out !!!
--------------------------

 




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