Windows File is ludicrously huge and I cannot unzip it

I use an online file backup service (Backblaze) and recently got a new computer. Several files on my old computer were too large to move via my usb drive so I decided to download them from my backup service.

Specifically the files included 3 videos consisting of about 20GB.

However...when I proceeded to unzip them, I got the following error message:

Error message: 2.15 EB needed to unzip archive

I use a 250Gb SSD, and a 1TbHDD. I failed to pick up a 2.15 Exabyte Hard drive while picking out my new computer though.

How do I fix this?

meed96

Posted 2015-07-03T02:06:01.377

Reputation: 2 076

93"I failed to pick up a 2.15 Exabyte Hard drive while picking out my new computer though." Cheapskate. – Adam Davis – 2015-07-03T04:23:48.747

When you wouldn't have said that the archive comes from a trusted source, I would have suggested that the zip archive might be a zip bomb. It is possible to hand-craft zip archives which are quite small when compressed but of ridiculous size when unpacked.

– Philipp – 2015-07-03T09:25:18.747

1Off the top of my head, I think the maximum DEFLATE compression ratio is 2 bits per 258 bytes, or 1:1032. – mwfearnley – 2015-07-03T11:26:47.043

25Respect to Microsoft though for including exascale-compatible devices in their design and test cases. Seems they have learned since the 640KB days. :) – Lunatik – 2015-07-03T13:01:34.360

1218,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes ought to be enough for anybody! – Michael Hampton – 2015-07-03T15:57:46.817

6@AdamDavis: We'll be having a second round of laughs in a few decades (or less) when EB scale storage becomes feasible for the average user. – dexgecko – 2015-07-03T20:04:33.877

3That compressed size looks very fishy--converted to binary it has a 1 in the 48th bit and the whole next word is zero. That looks like data corruption, I doubt there's any extractor that will appreciate this. – Loren Pechtel – 2015-07-05T02:34:59.770

@LorenPechtel Yeah it's weird, but I trust the site I got them from. And I just tried playing the videos and they seem to be working completely fine, so, no damage as far as I can tell. – meed96 – 2015-07-05T02:36:54.077

According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exabyte#cite_note-10), global data volume at the end of 2009 had reached 800 exabytes. You posses about 1/400th of all knowledge on earth at that time. I'm genuinely impressed.

– mxt3 – 2015-07-09T21:10:30.770

This looks like zip bomb. – Konrad Gajewski – 2018-09-07T05:52:52.147

Answers

Use a different file archive tool (such as 7-Zip) to unzip the files.

Not all .ZIP features are supported by the Windows Compressed Folders capability. For example, AES Encryption, split or spanned archives, and Unicode entry encoding are not known to be readable or writable by the Compressed Folders feature in Windows versions earlier than Windows 8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_(file_format)#Implementation

Steven

Posted 2015-07-03T02:06:01.377

Reputation: 24 804

3Some installations of Windows 8 won't open encrypted .zip files alleging [homeland] security reasons. – 174140 – 2015-07-04T10:43:14.297

@uprego One likely explanation is that encrypted zip files are often used to hide from virus scanners, and are rarely used legitimately. – user253751 – 2015-07-05T03:40:57.120

7@uprego Where did you read that? Link please. – Steven – 2015-07-05T17:44:05.143

Happened to a coworker some time ago, but I couldn't get to find a link for showing it. – 174140 – 2015-09-01T06:22:36.410

Download and the latest version of daemontools lite. Once it's installed, rightclick on the .zip file and select open with. Browse to where daemontools was installed. Once found, daemontools will create a virtual drive which contains the content of the .zip file - it will be created on next available drive letter.

Jim Nielsen

Posted 2015-07-03T02:06:01.377

Reputation: 445

Jim, it looks like you created a second user ID, which will interfere with your ability to manage your own posts and accumulate rep. See http://superuser.com/help/merging-accounts about getting your accounts merged. (Afterwards, you should just delete your previous answer.) Sounds like a good solution, BTW.

– fixer1234 – 2015-07-11T23:57:40.420

Another option to "unzip" the file, is the use Daemon Tools and map the zip file as a virtual drive from where you can copy the content to desired location. This way you don't need space for both the .zip file and it temporary space when unzipping it using either WinZip, 7-Zip, WinRar.

Jim Nielsen

Posted 2015-07-03T02:06:01.377

Reputation: 11

1Can you expand your answer to explain how to do this? Thanks. – fixer1234 – 2015-07-11T21:21:57.230