The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/washo8 on 2025-01-05 14:31:37.
Greetings all!
Usually, after each Windows reinstall I used to move lotsa files that have somewhat importance to a folder "Last install", just in case i would need those files later. It has collected files from a lot of separate installs over the course of ~10 years like that. While I try to keep stuff sorted, some folders are still called "Desktop" that have even more folders recursively, just a huge mess but it saves my ass sometimes.
Now, I realize keeping such a huge messy folder with lotsa mixed type small files in one place is a mistake. Would love to back it up in external hdd. I would also love to isolate it by packing to one file container to not drag all of the little files that just slow the transfer down. This is where i get stuck.
What file container format should I choose that is not read-only? (I swear i will sort those files out someday!!)
ISO might be a good choice due to it able to mount so easily and built-in support everywhere. However, making an ISO truncates some filenames due to messy structure and makes the container read-only
Zip/7z might solve the read-only restriction but it would need to extract stuff to perform a deep file search or to interact with files properly (loading thumbnails for example)
Veracrypt is the solution I am using right now, it's like an isolated drive that's modify-able. However, it creates a slight inconvenience with backups as modifying the drive doesn't change the "modified" date of the container, making my file sync tools useless (i would have to compare by hashes instead and it would be MUCH slower). Also I don't really need the encryption so any other solution might work.
Perhaps there are any solutions that could even split the containers to smaller chunks, so changing small stuff in archive wouldn't need to copy the ENTIRE thing?