Zipping files

[Luis]

Hiya,

If you're on OS X run Activity Viewer with a few test files.
On Win XP use the Performance app in Control Panel/Administrative Tools 
and do the same.

 From what I recall their RAM use is basically the same, the only 
bugbear is whether you are decompressing a large single file or lots of 
small files (which add to approximately the same size as the single 
file). Lots of small files tend to cane the hard disk most, the 
processor hit it marginally greater.

Cheers,

Luis.


J. Landman Gay wrote:
> I need to compress large-ish files, around 50-100 megs each. I wonder if 
> anyone knows whether zip or gz format is easier on RAM. Is it correct 
> that both methods require about double the amount of RAM as the file 
> size? Is one preferable over the other under low memory conditions? Are 
> there any other considerations when choosing between the two?
>