Re: The Compressed (zipped) Folder is invalid or corrupted

Warren Brackmann wrote:
> All information I've been able to find on this topic/error messaged
> had to do with downloading files from the Internet. I did NOT do
> this to cause the problem.
>
> I intended to use the Windows XP utility to password protect a
> massive amount of data I have on a secondary hard drive, formated
> as NTFS. About 60 gig of data was residing in a normal folder
> (e.g., OldDataFolder) in the root on the secondary drive:
> G:/OldDataFolder
>
> Following the supposedly accepted Microsoft XP method, I created a
> "Compressed (zipped)" folder, (e.g., G:/Archive_01) on the same
> secondary drive. I then moved ("Shift-drag) the OldDataFolder in
> to the Compressed Archive_01 folder.

Where is that listed as the "supposedly accepted Microsoft XP method"?

Just curious - because it is definitely not something that makes logical
sense. I would never MOVE/COMPRESS/ENCRYPT that much data until I was sure
it was backed up and I cannot see anyone else (Microsoft included) having a
procedure that just takes the data and compresses it without at least
suggesting a backup be performed first.

I really think you wanted this process:

To compress a file or folder on an NTFS drive
1.. Open My Computer.
2.. Double-click a drive or folder.
3.. Right-click the file or folder you want to compress, and then click
Properties.
4.. On the General tab, click Advanced.
5.. Select the Compress contents to save disk space check box, and then
click OK.
6.. In the Properties dialog box, click OK.
7.. In Confirm Attribute Changes, select the option you want.
Notes

a.. To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
b.. You can only use NTFS compression for files and folders on drives
formatted as NTFS. If the Advanced button does not appear, the file or
folder you selected is not on an NTFS drive.
c.. If you move or copy a file into a compressed folder, it is compressed
automatically. If you move a file from a different NTFS drive into a
compressed folder, it is also compressed. However, if you move a file from
the same NTFS drive into a compressed folder, the file retains its original
state, either compressed or uncompressed.
d.. Files and folders that are compressed using NTFS compression cannot be
encrypted.
e.. You can choose to display NTFS-compressed files in a different color.
For more information, click Related Topics.

> The movement of data showed
> that everything was being compressed and was moving into
> appropriate/corresponding folders/files down under Archive_01.
> Then, when the move operation was almost finished (after a couple
> of hours), the following message was displayed in and error message
> window:
> The Compressed (zipped) Folder is invalid or corrupted. (with an OK
> button in the middle of the window).

Yeah - that is a lot of data to compress in the way you stated you did it at
one time. I'll be honest and say I have never seen a 60GB zip file - which
seems to be what you are creating. Unfortunately - you chose to MOVE the
files into this file (It's really a file from the information you gave -
Windows XP's built in compression (ZIP) methods are just showing it to you
as a folder) - so if it got corrupted somehow (many ways - including a
hardware issue or just too much in a ZIP file) you do not have the original
data to fall back on.

Not saying it is impossible and maybe someone will come in to help and have
a wonderful way to fix it - but in my eyes - everything that was moved is
toast.

> Now, every time I click on the Archive_01 folder I get the same
> error message in an error message window. The now inaccessable
> Archive_01 folder shows in the root of the secondary drive with a
> size of about 5 gig. Almost all of the data did seem to MOVE out
> of the old normal folder, "OldDataFolder", leaving only a very
> small amount of data back in "OldDataFolder". I was also able to
> copy the entire seemingly corrupted Archive_01 compressed folder to
> another external secondary dirve connected via a USB 2.0 port.
> This took something like an hour to copy but I get the same error
> message when I try to access the folder on the external hard drive.
> There is nothing wrong with my secondary drives from a phyisical or
> file system point. I am able to create other folders and properly
> store files on the drives.

Yes - the drive is fine. The ZIP file - methinks - has reached some limit
of its abilities. NTFS compression, not ZIP compression was likely what
should have been used here - and only after backing up the data to another
location. =)

> Since there appears to be data in the "...invaled or corrupted"
> Archive_01 folder, is there some way I can get it back out? Some of
> the data is important and consists of install .exe files I would
> like to use again on my new system.

I cannot honestly say. a quick search (Google) for "fix invalid or corrupt
zip file" does show hope - but i have no experience in this matter.

> I admit that I should have "backed up" the data prior to attempting
> the MOVE. However, I tried a small test of the XP method of XP
> method for password protecting folders and files and it worked
> fine.

You are not really password protecting them - you are putting them into a
ZIP Compressed file and password protecting them.
Your best method for protecting data (and easiest to recover from in case
something goes wrong) is simple file and folder permissions. After that -
if used wisely - EFS (Encryption.) Since being able to put files in a large
zip file and password protecting it was around long ago - you'd think it
might be stable - but I never thought it was a great way of doing things -
seeing as you had to decompress to use and it did not seem practical for
large amounts of data..

> I am extremely disappointed in XP and that it would do
> something like this.

XP did what you asked it to try and do. I think you may not have
understood/known about all your options - which leads me back to your own
point. Backups - before you try anything crazy like this again - research
and backups first - then crazy thing.

> Plus, it has been impossible for me to find
> any information on this particular problem.

Tried Google?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


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