Zip files - to keep or not to keep?

Anso

Anso

New member
Do you keep or delete your zip files once you have unzipped your kits? And why do you keep/delete? Would love to hear what people do :thumbup:

I'm really battling with this. I have ALWAYS kept zip files (I'm just talking in general now and not specifically about digi kits). If I download a free program, an upgrade to a program I have, new printer drivers etc - all the zip files goes neatly into a directory I have called "Installation files". This is how I have always done it. You keep zip files...and deleting them would almost be "unforgivable" LOL! :unsure: I guess it orginally comes from when you were dealing with small floppy disks and saving a zipped file took up less space etc.

Fast forward to last week and I was suddenly thinking: "Do I *really* need to keep digital kit zips?" Having the unzipped folder AND the zip file means that each kit takes up nearly double the harddrive space. So really, I should delete them. I can just as well back up just the folders onto DVDs/EHD etc.

This "dilemma" has been on my mind so many times this week. But d-e-l-e-t-i-n-g zip files (aaaah!) can I really make myself do this?!? :blink: LOL!

So please tell me (if you managed to get to the end of this!) what you do...?
 
I have no choice but to delete, delete, delete. Our 200 gig hard drive is almost full, there is simply no room. And once they are unzipped, I've never had to go back and do it again.
 
I delete them almost immediately. Since they don't save that much space compared to the unzipped files, I keep the folders (obviously, I need to use them! LOL!) and delete the zips.

When I first started, I kept them all. And then my computer almost didn't work anymore, lol. So I delete delete delete.

I download and unzip at whichever computer I'm on (be it work, or at home on my laptop), transfer the zips to my flash to unzip on the other computer, and then delete forever.
 
this is what I do (at least ideally). I d/l the zip file to my laptop hard drive. I extract the files to my EHD. When I have extracted a DVD's worth of stuff, I will burn the extracted files to DVD and then delete the zip files.

I like to keep the zips for a little bit b/c I have had to go back to them on a few occasions.

I used to keep them forever but one day I realized I didn't have the space.
 
I delete them once a month or so...whenever I remember to hit that folder where I've got them set to download automatically. :)

The reasons behind deleting (especially for zip files for digi stuff) is that they don't actually take up LESS space than the kits...if they do, it's only a MB or two - JPG files don't compress and PNG files don't compress MUCH. They're essentially used because it would be a pain to download 100+ individual files, it's just easier to download 1 file and have it done. :) And also, zip files become less stable over time, and are likely to corrupt especially if you're moving them around.

Though I can see the reasoning behind keeping zip files for things OTHER than digi kits, lol. But digi kits, they're useless...well, not useless, but their use has been served (for you to get the kit from the internet to your computer easily).
 
Hmm, this is good to know. I've been saving all of my zip files to DVD, in case something happens to my digi stuff but maybe I should be saving the kits themselves instead.

Helen
 
When I had a PC, I burned them to disk so that I could re-open them if ever anything happened. Now that I have a Mac, I just burn the entire kit to DVD. Don't ask me why, I don't know. ROFL
 
hhleung said:
Hmm, this is good to know. I've been saving all of my zip files to DVD, in case something happens to my digi stuff but maybe I should be saving the kits themselves instead.

Helen
Click to expand...

I would definitely back up the actual kits, and not the zips.
 
I back up the zips to DVD when I get to 4GBs or so in my Downloaded Kits folder & then delete them. I extract the kit to my scrapbook folder & then drop the zip into the downloaded kits folder. It's just easier for me to keep track of what I have & have and have not backed up if I do it that way.

Once a month I back up my scrapbook folder to my EHD, so I have a couple copies should i need them
 
wvasweetness said:
why do you say to save the kits and not the zips?
Click to expand...

The zips tend to be more unstable and can actually become corrupt over time. Since digital kits don't compress hardly at all, you're actually not saving any space and you're running the risk of not having a usable backup should you need it.

I always delete the zips. I really see no reason in keeping them. I just backup the actual files. Plus if you use the zips as you're backup, should something happen you'd have to go through unzipping and organizing again.
 
I don't save the zips, as they can become unstable and corrupt over time. I have all my scrap stuff on my laptop (it has a 500 GB HD) and it is all backed up on my EHD. The folders are identical in both, and should anything happen to my laptop, I have everything organized and sorted just as it is now, on my EHD.

They don't save that much space, so I just toss em.
 
Me too. Download- unzip- delete zip file. Because of the unstableness of zips, like mentioned above, I put the kit folder on DVD.
 
Okay, so no more saving zip files to DVD for me! That's a lot of DVDs to throw out, though. Oh wait, I could use them to make a CD album!! :)

Helen
 
I unzip, reorganize/rename the folder & contents and then trash the zip. Then I back them up to my 2 external harddrives and to mozy.com account.
 
pretty sure she gets the point now, but I'll throw my i delete them too in :)

I backup my kit folders and not the zips :)
 
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