Well, I am taking regular backups of the database. However, what's actually the most compressed? gZip files or normal Zip files? I don't think the difference is big, but which one is most compressed?

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I don't know the answer to this one, but I do know that I would take a large file with contents similar to what you would be compressing and try it using both programs. The results would tell you which one is most effective.
The reason I suggest using similar file structures is that the methds for compressing a database full of information may be different than the method used for compressing non-databased information. The white space in a page of html might compress differently than a bunch of white space inside another text document or database. Get it?

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From my few experiences with GZip I must say... it RULES when coming to compression. Definitely way more than zip in every case. I first came to use Gzip beacuse I had to upload many files on a Unix server wich supported only Gzip extraction. It was nearly only about 80% of the zip for the same files. But the little problem I have faced so far is that I couldn't get a neat program to GZip my files. You see gz archives can store only one file per archive and that sucks. So you'll have to first convert it to TAR and then GZip it. That's why they usually have the extensions tar.gz. But its worth the effort for the compression ratio its giving.

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Ok, I'll try to check out which one compresses most, and give you an answer when the "test" is done

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I dunno too much either, but I think GZIP is much better compression that ZIP... anyaways, it is up to you to decide.

They usually give you GZip files when backup in CPanel, which is way cool to me. You do not even need to Unzip the whole file, and all that stuff...

Cheers!

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I think the compression is more or less the same for gzip and zip. Gzip uses the LZ algorithm used in zip and PKZIP. It is said that with text such as source code or English the size is reduced by 60-70%. The compression is better than that achieved by LZW. But I think it may not be as good as LZH. If you want preformance, 7z or rar outperform zip and gz. But I think the choice is also depends on the platform you are using. Zip is more portable in Win32 systems but gz generally rules in Unix and Linux systems. The compression speed, I think is faster in ZIp. Gz can have various level of compression for you to choose, but the highest level takes much CPU resources.

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I have had to use Gzip before and it is way better than a Zip file. I know this because when I was going to download a file the link to the Zip file did not work so I checked the Gzip one. The file was 14mb zipped but it was I think 12mb gzipped. It is a pretty big difference so I would go with Gzip.

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zip does not really compress, it just groups files together for download or transfer. Gzip is made for compression. Got it?

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psychiccyberfreak, you're wrong. Zip and Gzip may be different, and they are each good for their one. My test results are as following:
Zip: 626 kb
GZip: 633 kb

It doesn't really make any difference. For those who wonders, I downloaded my whole phpBB database, containing around 2100 posts and 200 members.

So, Zip is not for multiple files - it seems to be better for that file. But Gzip may be better for other things, and maybe Gzip will be better for taking a backup too...

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Well I had something more to add but I lost track of the topic (Silly Me ). So I has to work with Gzip files after posting on this thread and this time I needed to create my own gzip archive. Until then I hadn't really created a gzip file successfully. So I toook off for a stroll on the net with my favorite fox and I hit upon this wonderful archive utility called TugZip which handles many types of archives very efficiently and the best oart -its FREE. So I'm posting the link here:

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/TUGZip/1061582000/1

Enjoy!

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