vhd or zip files to save space?

[Soogs]

Do VHD's save space by not wasting cluster space for small files?

how likely are zip files or vhds likely to get corrupted?

is one more recoverable than the other?

Any sugguestions?

cheers in advance

 

[Rroff]

VHD is a simpler format to recover files from but less tools/ready information to do so. I've generally favoured zip/rar for bulk saving lots of smaller files I don't need regular access to to avoid wasting space due to allocation/cluster concerns - the built in tools (in the various zip programs, etc.) for recovery generally work OK - I've rarely encountered a problem with corruption but I tend to keep offline backups as well just in case.

 

[Soogs]

I thought this might be the case.
do you have a preference for zip or rar?

 

[Rroff]

I tend to just use zip not entirely thought out why - amongst other factors Windows has built in support for unpacking it even if you don't have access to other tools.

 

[Soogs]

that makes sense.
thanks for the help. zipping from source to destination is definitely speeding up the process as well as saving space

 

[Armageus]

is one more recoverable than the other?

Any sugguestions?

If you need some degree of recoverability, then you'd be better with something like .rar files with recovery records, or better yet .par files.