advice

[Chris Sheffield]

I just need some advice and opinions on this one.

I'm working on creating a little backup / WinZip-like application  
(mostly just for my own use, but we'll see).  I would like to store  
backed up files into custom properties of a stack, so that everything  
is contained in one easy-to-use file, much like a WinZip or Stuffit  
archive.  Here's my question.  I'm debating on whether to compress  
the files first, and then place them in the custom props, or to put  
them in uncompressed, and then compress the entire stack file all at  
once.  Is there any benefit doing it one way over the other?  I would  
think it would be faster to compress/decompress one file as opposed  
to many, but it would also mean that upon restoring the archive, I  
would need to decompress that archive and save it to a temporary  
stack file, then delete that temp file when the process is complete.   
Or am I wrong about that?

Anyway, this is just kind of a design issue, and I'm wondering what  
the rest of you would do.  Which way would be the most efficient?

Thanks,
Chris



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Chris Sheffield
Read Naturally
The Fluency Company
http://www.readnaturally.com
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