Delete archive on extract

[ArmedMonkey]

This is a feature I found useful in WinRAR and some other archivers. I think it is pretty simple to implement.

I'd like a switch to prompt for deleting the archive(s) involved after an extract operation.

I find myself downloading packages that are compressed, extracting them, and then deleting the archives right after. It's small and silly, but I found the feature immensely useful.

[moles42]

indeed that is a common practice of mine also...

[ArmedMonkey]

Yeah, but for some reason this simple and intensely useful feature is not very widespread amongst different apps

[wulffra]

Yes, I agree with this.

Yesterday I extracted some 40-50 .RAR-sets, using the RMB.
Extract to \subfolder.
After extraction I needed to manually delete all files.

PowerArchiver should have an option like:
"[X] Delete .RAR's after successful extraction"

Hope there will be more support for this feature request...

thanks!
==

[ArmedMonkey]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who misses this. Hopefully the devs will take notice and implement it soon; I don't think it should be very hard.

[spwolf]

issue here is that we cant implement it properly and make 100% sure that it is 100% failsafe. Only way i can see that happening is crc checking each file, which is not that simple and might be quite slow on some archive..

[ArmedMonkey]

Are you speaking in terms of making sure that everything is properly extracted without errors prior to deletion of the archives?

It could be an optional feature, the prompt, as well as the CRC checking.

[drteeth]

By 'delete' I hope and assume that one means 'move to recycle bin'. If that is the case, I don't see any problem in having this feature available.

DrT

[ArmedMonkey]

You could configure that perhaps.

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by ArmedMonkey

You could configure that perhaps.

and suddenly it becomes much more complicated ;-)

[manuangi]

I vote for this feature too. It would be great to have such a context menu entry as "extract + delete archive"..then in the options choose whether to move to recycle bin or delete for good.

[ArmedMonkey]

Originally Posted by spwolf

and suddenly it becomes much more complicated ;-)

Perhaps, but I don't actually care about all the complicated stuff. AFAIK WinRAR, which I've used for years doesn't do anything complicated. It just detects which archives were used, and deletes them. No CRC, No Recycle, etc.

I've never had a problem with it in all those years, and would be perfectly happy if it was implemented to the same minimal extent.

(I've never in all my years had a compression program extract something wrong. I've had corrupted FILES, but that causes an error on extraction due to the built-in CRC checks that I'm sure PA already performs. It performs those, right?)

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by ArmedMonkey

Perhaps, but I don't actually care about all the complicated stuff. AFAIK WinRAR, which I've used for years doesn't do anything complicated. It just detects which archives were used, and deletes them. No CRC, No Recycle, etc.

I've never had a problem with it in all those years, and would be perfectly happy if it was implemented to the same minimal extent.

(I've never in all my years had a compression program extract something wrong. I've had corrupted FILES, but that causes an error on extraction due to the built-in CRC checks that I'm sure PA already performs. It performs those, right?)

well you might not have an issue in the next few years either, but without properly doing it, someone might have an issue with it and someone might lose their files with it... this is why in general, we dont like deleting files without user interaction... something can always go wrong there.

[ArmedMonkey]

I understand what you're saying and I appreciate your responses, but I'd just like to clarify. I never suggested that there be no user interaction. I mean a prompt that says "Delete?" at the end of each operation.

I'm not an expert on compressions, but if my memory serves me correctly, most compression formats store the uncompressed CRC hash of each file, I have received errors in 7zip, Winzip, and Winrar when the CRCs didn't match up upon extraction. I haven't used PA enough to encounter this, but I am assuming it does the check. So unless miraculously you have a combination of events which leads to a file being corrupted in the CRC table of the archive AND being extracted with an error in precisely the way which will cause the CRC to match up with the corrupted one, PA should detect that the operation failed and notify the user. Am I wrong?

With this said, in the case that your operation reports a success, the resultant files should be provably accurately decompressed versions of the bytes making up the archive(s) from which they were created.

At this point, what I am suggesting is, an option that users can enable (default is off), to show them a prompt when an operation has completed successfully, that asks if they would like to delete the archive(s).

[Big_Boss]

Yes, this would be a useful feature! SUPPORT!

How it could work: an option in the configuration menu something like "Prompt for archive deletion after extracting archive". The default would be no, so by default there would be no prompts to delete the archive after extraction and the archive would not be automatically deleted. If you changed that setting to yes, then every time you have extracted an archive PA would ask "Do you want to delete this archive?" or "these archives" if you extracted multiple archives or multi-part archive. If you say yes, the archive(s) is deleted into the Recycle Bin.

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by Big_Boss

Yes, this would be a useful feature! SUPPORT!

How it could work: an option in the configuration menu something like "Prompt for archive deletion after extracting archive". The default would be no, so by default there would be no prompts to delete the archive after extraction and the archive would not be automatically deleted. If you changed that setting to yes, then every time you have extracted an archive PA would ask "Do you want to delete this archive?" or "these archives" if you extracted multiple archives or multi-part archive. If you say yes, the archive(s) is deleted into the Recycle Bin.

sure, gang up on me!

[Sir Richard]

Originally Posted by spwolf

sure, gang up on me!

If its what the customers want Spwolf...

I have to admit it would be a useful feature for the future.

[ArmedMonkey]

Sorry spwolf. Being a dev myself I know how you feel :P. You guys probably have your hands full with bigger stuff. But look on the bright side, all we actually want is a very simple implementation of what you're talking about. Like I said, I personally don't even care if it goes to the Recycle Bin, which is just a smidge harder than outright deleting the file.

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by ArmedMonkey

Sorry spwolf. Being a dev myself I know how you feel :P. You guys probably have your hands full with bigger stuff. But look on the bright side, all we actually want is a very simple implementation of what you're talking about. Like I said, I personally don't even care if it goes to the Recycle Bin, which is just a smidge harder than outright deleting the file.

it is same if we delete to recycle bin or not, but when it comes to how complicated it is in total, it is as complicated at any other new feature... but we will put it on our list, cant promise anything else... thank you.

[davidsplash]

this feature is dangerous. the most safest way is to do this manually.

[drteeth]

@davidpslash - So don't use it!

Driving is dangerous. The most safest way is to walk everywhere.

DrT

[NTFS]

I lost my brakes while driving today because of a damaged brake cylinder

[drteeth]

Told you walking is safer!

[TBGBe]

Originally Posted by drteeth

Told you walking is safer!

Not if NTFS is driving

[spwolf]

Originally Posted by drteeth

@davidpslash - So don't use it!

Driving is dangerous. The most safest way is to walk everywhere.

DrT

so you walk around and Serhiy hits you with his car and no brakes ;-)

[drteeth]

Originally Posted by spwolf

so you walk around and Serhiy hits you with his car and no brakes ;-)

That's called 'fate' .

DrT

[wulffra]

I am a simple 'enduser' without knowledge of .rars and .pars and the complexity behind it.

This being said,I think deleting archives is welcomed specifically when extracting rar-sets, with 10, 20 or more .rars.

In most cases they come with pars as well.

My experience with PA (I can't judge other archive utilities) is that if something is 'wrong' with a .rar-file, like being incomplete, missing, PA warns about this and users can stop the processa and take actions to correct this.

But once PA runs through the entire set without warnings and everything is extracted, then I wonder what would be against deleting the .rars (and .pars)...

Or, in other words, what would be the use of keeping all the rars/pars ?

Last but not least, deleting that stuff still is an option not PA's default behaviour. If, for whatever reasons, users wish to keep these files then they should tag this option.
=

[Micke]

Originally Posted by wulffra

Last but not least, deleting that stuff still is an option not PA's default behaviour. If, for whatever reasons, users wish to keep these files then they should tag this option.
=

Maybe I'm one of the few people in this thread that think this is a very bad idea to implement in PA. I see no reason at all to even have the option of deleting archives after successful extraction. It's much safer and better if the user have to do this either manually after extraction or creating a script that can do this.

Personally I don't even want the possibility of deleting a archive automatic after successful extraction from PA, because extracting data from a archive is a read operation of the archive and I then expect the source to be intact after extraction.

Even if this will be an option in PA that's turned off by default, it will increase the risk of that the user might loose data either by mistake or if something goes wrong.

Kind Regards
Micke

[Sir Richard]

Seems that the Needs of the Many out weigh the needs of the few..

If users are worried about this feature it will be defaulted to not delete on completion. PA Could even ask on extract "Do you wish to delete archive?" on each extract if needed.

There are many ways to make this safe and clear for users and if Admin dont want it they have the ability to Fix it so users cant change it within the registry.

[DKJones]

Perhaps I misunderstand Sir Richard's post . . . but I agree with Micke.

I think the needs of the many are to not have this feature. Perhaps the needs of a few super users is to have this feature. However, I assume that is not your basic clientele.

More than once I have gone to one of the config screens and found a box checked that I did not remember checking. It was likely just sloppiness on my part, but if so, I suspect I am sloppy in just the way others are.

If I lost a valuable file because of this, I would not be happy.

Clearly some subset of people will want this. However, I cannot imagine that most ordinary users will.

In any event, here's an idea.

Do NOT put this as an option; but explain to those who DO want this option how to edit the registry to have this option.

If someone then edits their registry to automatically delete a file, only to find they don't want the file deleted . . . then they knew the risk when they delved into their registry.

Just a thought.