Do you prefer to keep your games files zipped or unzipped and why? Bonus topic: Anyone else wants to eventually reach the level of Chuck (Level 99)?

[Coleman]

Zipped until I see a reason not to.

[R3615]

Depend on the rom size.

Less than 500Mo keep it zipped.

Especially for DC isos zipped they are usually light weighted.

[Coleman]

Does anyone run media from a network drive?  I would expect this to have an impact on zip vs unzipped files.

[VitaminYesSupplements]

I prefer using zipped files unless my emulator does not allow it. It takes up less space, and is less of a hassle to organize. I just wish that more emulators would support them.

[TragicallyGeek]

If the emulators can open them, I definitely prefer to keep them zipped.  Not only does it save space but there is just something that makes it 'cleaner' to me.

[TragicallyGeek]

On 2/2/2017 at 0:01 PM, Coleman said:

Does anyone run media from a network drive?  I would expect this to have an impact on zip vs unzipped files.

I open media across a network drive.  I rarely run into issues, some of the larger videos take a second or so longer than others to appear though.  I should note that a few of the emulators really don't like opening ROMs across the network though, or at least with Windows 10.

[Coleman]

So you store roms/isos on the loCal drive but all of the media (game play videos, game images) for the front end on the network drive?

[Ted777]

22 hours ago, TragicallyGeek said:

I open media across a network drive.  I rarely run into issues, some of the larger videos take a second or so longer than others to appear though.  I should note that a few of the emulators really don't like opening ROMs across the network though, or at least with Windows 10.

I'm planning to have my stuff run over network as well, is your stuff zipped over the network, will there be a big performance hit on that?

[TragicallyGeek]

On 2/11/2017 at 8:59 AM, Coleman said:

So you store roms/isos on the loCal drive but all of the media (game play videos, game images) for the front end on the network drive?

Yupp!  If it wasn't for issues I ran into with 10 I would run both across the network.

[TragicallyGeek]

On 2/11/2017 at 1:26 PM, Ted777 said:

I'm planning to have my stuff run over network as well, is your stuff zipped over the network, will there be a big performance hit on that?

I haven't noticed much of an issue, although I do run on a gigabit network.  Some of the larger files take an extra few seconds to load, this is one of the things I have really liked the fades for in RocketLauncher.

[hojo]

With emulators nowadays there really isn't a reason to not zip the files. Most emulators can read straight from the zipped file with 0 delay and some emulators will actively unzip the game your currently playing to ensure no delay. While harddrive space is getting bigger and bigger, just seems like a waste not to zip.

 

Actually as 7zip has become very popular recently, might be worth converting the zipped files to 7zip. Compression is much much better. Just need to find a good program which can convert the zip to a 7z 

[f8lbyte]

I keep 'em zipped

[Kivikaki]

I keep everything zipped.

 

Need to save my precious storage capacity. 

[jameythepoet]

Zipped, if at all humanly possible :)

[Enverex]

Uncompressed but on a filesystem that supports compression and deduplication. Best of both worlds. Everything can read it as the files are in their native format, but you've also saved space by having the filesystem transparently compress everything (and then duplicate everything it can for extreme space savings).

[NLS]

Zipped.

Most emulators can handle zipped content transparently and fast enough.

For those few that can't front-ends can rectify it.

Or I simply extract right then and there - which is rare nowadays.

 

[rasoft2000]

Zipped cause I'm too lazy to unzip every single rom :P

[Keeper]

I like zipped but RetroArch unzips them when playing, and does it in the same folder! it doesnt delete them when im done so I end up with both

 

Anyone know how to change this behavior?

[BlackTiger78]

zipped

[nostre]

zipped if the emulator supported!

[FloppyKnob]

Zipped if the emulator supports it. WBFS for Wii games, gzip for PS2 games, cso for PSP games, gcz for GCN games, etc.

[morize]

How long does it take you to load PS2 and GCN games when zipped? I''m also wondering what the performance hit would be if you place the media files (especially images) on a server SSD. I hate it when a front end starts up with the images still building up on the screen (in the past i had this with huge music libraries in XBMC). Now that SSD prices are going down to acceptable levels for semi-mass storage, maybe i can place the artwork on a local SSD and the ISO's and videos on the server.

[Zanak]

Zipped for ROMS, unzipped for ISO's.

 

I prefer having one big file than 10,000 small files if possible.

[morize]

Do you keep a full romset zipped then? Or one for each game?

[jdoane1989]

I always unzip mine because I like the sound of zippers.  Really though, it's just what I have always done.