Help me UnZip this file, please!

T

themacko

Barking at the moon.
I've got a zipped archive that I downloaded which I'm having problems with. I rechecked the file and it's fully downloaded. Here's the deal, it was created on Windows with WinZip. Other Win-users encounter issues unzipping UNLESS they too, use WinZip. Obviously I don't have that luxury so I'm wondering if there is a work-around.

I tried using the Finder to unzip but it just sits there. I tried using the Terminal but it gives me this garbage:

Archive: PhishSummer04.zip
End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not
a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive. In the
latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
the last disk(s) of this archive.
unzip: can't find zipfile directory in one of PhishSummer04.zip or
PhishSummer04.zip.zip, and can't find PhishSummer04.zip.ZIP, period.

I also tried using JIMzip to repair the file but it doesn't make any progress. I'm hoping someone's got an idea for me here!! ::sleepy::
 
Can you post a link so we can try to download it and uncompress it, or, if it's small enough and legal, post it here?

Have you tried using StuffIt Expander? I think it works with .zip files...
 
I understand Winzip has been threatening to use a proprietary version of the Zip compression technology that is not compatible with other Zip formats. You may have gotten one of those. In that case your only solution is Virtual PC, Windows, and WinZip.
 
The file is much too large to post here ... a little over 2 Gigs. If it were a more managable size I'd just burn it to a CD-R and unzip it at work or something. I'll have to think about this, thanks for the replies though!
 
I use a PC at work (where i am now) and so if it is not anything like nudes or racially based or anything generally looked down upon from employers i can try to unzip it for you. do you have a link, you can PM me if you need to.
 
Thanks Jeff, I appreciate the jesture. I can actually take it to my buddie's house and try to unzip it; the reason I wanted to ask here first is because the file is about 2 gigabytes and I'm not sure if his PC will see my external FW harddrive (it's MacOS formatted). We'll try and see.

Just in case anyone was wondering, the archive consists of the 2004 Phish tour, audio recordings. Nothing too controversial. ;)
 
I understand Winzip has been threatening to use a proprietary version of the Zip compression technology that is not compatible with other Zip formats.
Click to expand...

Things like this blow my mind. I can conceive of no scenario in which this WOULDN'T blow up in their faces.
 
Why should it blow up in their faces? :confused: Microsoft has been doing the same thing with much of their software for years and getting away with it. ::evil::

As far as that goes, so has Allume (formerly known as Aladdin Systems) with their .sit and more recently .sitx formats for Mac archives. It has only been since the introduction of OS X that Mac users have had access to alternative file compression algorithms such as BZip, GZip, TAR, and LHa. Of course Allume now offers all these compression formats in Stuffit too.

The original PKZip command line utility in windows made no bones about using the same compression algorithms as the GZip format in Unix. Why not, it was in the public domain. When WinZip was first introduced, it was dependent on the older shareware PKZip for much of its functionality and in many cases was simply a GUI front end for PKZip. Over the years they have brought all of the code and functions, in house, and lost all dependence on PKZip. WinZip has long wanted a way to further differentiate and separate themselves from PKZip. When Allume began competing head to head with WinZip on the PC by offering Stuffit and Stuffit Expander on the PC which could handle Zip archives as well their proprietary .sit compression/decompression on the PC, WinZip had to to something to meet the competition. WinZip is simply meeting the market challenge with their new proprietary format, which is no less proprietary than Stuffit's sit and sitx.
 
Why should it blow up in their faces?
Click to expand...

Because personally, I see the universality of the zip format as one of its biggest selling points. If they decide to start using a proprietary format, it will need to offer some *big* advantage over the current zip format. Why go with a compression format that you CAN'T send to your non-winzip-using friends, when you already have the older version which you CAN?

WinZip is not positioned like either Microsoft or Allume/formerly Aladdin. They aren't the biggest kid on the block (like MS) - and they aren't the first to offer a decent compression utility on Mac (like Aladdin). So I just don't see the 'my way or the highway' trick working for them.
 
perfessor101 said:
Don't bother, the PC will not read your external HD unless you install something like PC MacLan, which has an msrp of $189, on his PC.
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Well I must say, this is the first time owning a Mac has really bitten me in the ass. :(
 
Is the file on the web somewhere? I use Windows at work, and if the file is publicly available I could quickly tell you whether a PC can unzip it, or if it's actually corrupted.
 
the stupidest thing i've done (excluding everything really stupid that i'm to embarrassed to write about) was making an archive of an iPhoto album (containing a lot of pictures from an important day in the firm i freelance for) and then deleting the original (i was reformatting the harddrive) without checking if the archive had been properly zipped. it hadn't. and every time i visit the firm they want me to send over pictures from the event (since i was responsible for the documentation) and i have to say that i'm still trying to solve it. i still have the freaking file on my desktop just to remind me of how stupid i was.

glad to get that off my chest.
 
Decado said:
the stupidest thing i've done
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Please, lets not get this started or we will all have to admit to some of the really stupid things we have done. The only thing any of us can say when we hear about something like you did is say, There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Did you use Stuffit or the OS X archive command to compress the files? If it was Stuffit, you might contact Allume and see if they might be able to help you out. Sometimes they can.
 
nope. osx archive. I keep trying with every new release of osx too see if they have implemented some magic that makes me open it. archived about 30-40 other albums at the same time and they were all fine.
 
Decado, does Finder report this archive's size as what you would expect (so you know it's not just an empty file)? Have you tried copying the archive and opening the duplicate? (Worked for me once.)
 
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