Creating a Spanned ZIP File

Creating a Spanned ZIP File

Sometimes traditional transfer methods are not available and an IT provider may need to provide a migration consultant with point-in-time snapshot of data / documents.
This article explains what you should do and what you shouldn't do.

Do Not Do These Things

Warning
These are bad ideas that you should avoid.
  1. Do not upload individual documents to an online storage location (OneDrive/Dropbox/etc)
    1. Individual and small files transfer slowly.
    2. If there is an issue, it is hard to detect which file the issue is with
    3. Many systems don't handle long path's correctly.
    4. Some systems may drop important metadata like created/modified dates.
  2. Do not upload one giant ZIP file to an online storge location
    1. This will take a long time to send
    2. If there is an issue uploading, the entire upload must be restarted
    3. If there is an issue downloading, the entire download must be restarted

Do This Instead: Create a "Spanned" Zip File

Idea
Please follow these instructions
A Spanned zip file one logical zip file that is "spanned" (spread) across multiple actual file parts.
This has the following advantages:
  1. Big files transfer fast
  2. Long Paths are not an issue
  3. Important metadata is preserved
  4. If there is an issue, the individual parts can be uploaded.

Creating a Spanned Zip File


Then navigate to the folder you want to ZIP, right-click it, and select "Show More Options"


Then select 7ZIP -> Add to Archive


Set the Archive Format to 7z, the Volume Size to 1000MB and click OK:

Once the process is complete, you will have a number of files like this:

ALL of these files must be transferred to the recipient.

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