For most old-school Linux users, creating archive consisted of dropping to the command line and issue a command like tar cfz directory.tgz directory (where directory is the name of the directory to archirve). But new users fear the command line. So, thanks to GNOME, there is an easier way to achieve this.

The folder right click menu.

If you open up the Nautilus File Manger and right click on a folder you will see the menu shown in the image to the left.

By clicking the “Create Archive” entry a new window will appear that allows you to configure the archive you want to create. This new window allows you to configure the type of compression, the location and name of the archive, and (if you have encryption enabled), add encryption and split into volumes.

Configure your archive

Once you have configured your archive click the Create button and the archive will automatically be placed in the Location you chose.

Take note of the file extension. This extension will determine if the archive is compressed or not. There are eight possible options to choose from. If you want compression I would suggest going with either the .tgz or the tar.bz2 extensions.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve ever wanted simple and fast archiving, GNOME has just the tool for you. This method of archiving folders can not be topped for ease of use.

Related posts

• Get To Know Linux: Process Management (1)
• Easy CD Burning in GNOME (5)
• What makes Ubuntu so user friendly? (47)
• Simple GNOME Note Taking with Tomboy (1)
• Manage Network Devices in Fedora (3)

The first thing that you have to do after installation is add at least one folder that should be monitored to File Hamster. You may choose all or selected files that should be monitored. It adds subfolders automatically to your selection as well. The selected files will now be monitored and a backup will be created before a write process changes the file. File Hamster prompts for action whenever a file is edited, you may add comments to it to describe the changes for instance.

It is of course possible to access older versions at anytime in case you want to revert back to them.

To make this free version tracking software even better you can customize it further. You might want to limit the number of revisions that should be kept. This can be done by either adding a maximum or by defining the amount of time that old revisions should be kept. Both are set to unlimited by default.

File Hamster supports plugins of which at least two are extremely useful. The first is a zip plugin which compresses the backups saving valuable disk space if you work with large uncompressed files.

The second is a Diff plugin which works very well with programs that display the differences between files. Winmerge would be a free tool that could be used for this purpose.

I found this program at the great freeware genius blog.

Related posts

• Karens Replicator automatic backup solution (4)
• Xsite Freeware (1)
• Weekend Fun Tails Gear (1)
• Watch Tv over Internet with Sopcast (3)
• Vssvc.exe (8)