Compressing games for backing up

Experienced the same many times. But, i write these games to DVD and delete it from PC.
I came across this KGB archiver, but it won't be of no use with files >4GB.

harshilsharma63 said:

Hi, I have a lot of games which I'm currently storing in my external hard disk. But, the number of games is increasing week-by-week. I want to know some methods of compressing these games like the stuff done repacks. I've heard of the LZMA algorithm but couldn't find much content.

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u can try WinRar or 7z but u won't get the compression ratio as it is done by game hackers groups..as they use some special tools to do that...way far from layman...google if u want to know more

@Zang: You're right. But compressing a game (.iso format) with winrar or 7Zip, won't even compress to 80% of the original content.
I wonder how they compress, say 1GB worth of content to mere 100+MB of .exe or .uha

Gearbox said:

@Zang: You're right. But compressing a game (.iso format) with winrar or 7Zip, won't even compress to 80% of the original content.
I wonder how they compress, say 1GB worth of content to mere 100+MB of .exe or .uha

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compression also depends on file format...
u can compress image files (jpeg,bmp etc) using compression apps..
but compressing .exe and setup files is of no use coz they are pre-compressed files...

I compress my SQL Database .bak files of 5~6GB to MB...using Winrar (best compression method)

Take my word it is not worth it! I've spent hours compressing iso's with 7zip but in the end gain margin was too low to justify the time and electricity spent so I simply burnt em all into DVDs and now live happily

best compression is given hacker groups..you cant compress beyond that as they know to delete unnecessary files,recode video/audio etc..so downlaod repacks if u want to save space..

Seems like Ultra compressing is not worth the time required for compressing and decompressing. Still, I would love to try out uharc, can someone point me to a guide/tutorial on uharc cmd or any other GUI utility on uharc?

i don't know how much you know about compressing but there is something called "entropy"(not the thermodynamics one) which places limit on how much any data can be compressed.it is not possible to highly compress already compressed file types like exe's,iso's,jpg's etc.no matter what software you use.you can not compress a 4gb game iso to even 3gb without modifying the original content(removing unnecessary stuff,re-encoding audio/video to lower bitrates etc).

the game ripper groups, most famous ......, ......... Games etc, re-encode video and audio to lower bitrates. video and audio occupy the most space. they also remove languages oter than english and russian. and then they using compressing algos. its not as easy as it looks. have tried it, but as many before me have already said, its too complex for the ordinary PC user and not worth our time, energy and electricity.

some groups, though very rarely, also compress textures.

I have tried and wasted numerous hours on this before. Trust me not worth it. Also the repacks can cause some problems in some other way also. Better get a HDD.

havent had any problems with any repacks till now, and i have used many. almost all i use are repacks.

Try updating the game and you'll see.

gameranand said:

I have tried and wasted numerous hours on this before. Trust me not worth it. Also the repacks can cause some problems in some other way also. Better get a HDD.

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but they are free..

Your choice. Waste your time like I did but at last you will realize that I was telling you truth and then I'll be like "I told you so".

let's not talk about Repacks ... at-least don't mention any names

@ OP - you want to store game idisc images - the best way is to use good quality Dual layer DVDs.

oops.. sorry for the names.

Cost per GB is pretty high for Dual Layer DVDs. Better get a HDD of large capacity.

topgear said:

@ OP - you want to store game idisc images - the best way is to use good quality Dual layer DVDs.

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if OP is gonna replay the games then definitely a backup Disc recommended...
also an HDD will be useful for big game library...