[Orphwitz]

I am excited to bring what appears to be some new information to this forum. Based on searching threads, I've yet to come across any mention of a handy program known as "Kiwix" (Kiwix: Read Wikipedia offline) on this forum. It is a tool that compresses digital files to be even smaller than .zip files. Of course Kiwix will open the files to be read, but the files need not be decompressed for this purpose. It will also organize and display your files in a graphical format. In this way, the program serves as a sort of library.
This morning; I downloaded Wikipedia (pictures and all.) It came out to a comparatively tiny 60.12 GB. One could download an even smaller "lite" version without the pictures. Download your files through the tool after you have installed it. I now have a world species guide, a dictionary, and I'm working on compressing my own sets of files too.
Have a great weekend, folks!

 

[paraquack]

Since I gave a bazillion bytes of digital storage that I pray survives a disaster (can't afford to print out)
the idea of compression bothers me. Just the idea of digital storage has its pitfalls but having it
compressed under a new format is of real concern for me. If the compression software is
corrupted, the data in storage could be worthless. I'll stick with my 32 and 64 Gig micro SD cards.
Besides it would be usable on almost any machine that takes the mini SD. Maybe for safety sake,
I'll put everything on Flash drives too.

 

[A Watchman]

Copying Wikipedia huh? But ...... after I edit all the prepping files your data will be dated and without my added expertise. Not to mention your files will have all the wrong crap people put in before my edits, huh?

 

[Orphwitz]

So pleased you pointed that out! The file is updated 3 or 4 times a year. As paraquack pointed out, I don't think you could possibly have enough auxiliary and backup data. Just be sure to use SSDs (solid state drives) wherever possible. With no moving parts inside, SSD's are far more durable than the older HDD's (hard disk drives) and data is much more stable.