Large chunks of export files are entirely readable. You can open them in vi and read it because character data is stored as plain text, hence the potentially good compression rates. I agree I wouldn't like to have to decipher a lot of numeric fields.
Regards, Mike Hately BTW Robert (Freeman), LMAO! -----Original Message----- Sent: 16 May 2002 17:14 To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Patrice, Yes, that's right. On our Tru64 Unix platforms, I was amazed to find that even though I knew the export dump files to be binary files and (what I assumed to be) not only Oracle-extent-compressed, but binary-data-compressed.......that in using gzip/gunzip we were achieving compression percentages of up to 50% and even more. Jim Damiano -----Original Message----- Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 10:08 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L I don't know whether this is a tangent, but I notice that on the windows platform, "compressed" exports can still get 85% compression when zipping them with WinZip. Obviously Oracle "compressed=y" doesn't mean "compress the export file", it just means that it places all the segments contiguously in the export file. Right? Regards, Patrice Boivin Systems Analyst (Oracle Certified DBA) -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: James Damiano INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________ This email and any attached to it are confidential and intended only for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please let us know by telephoning or emailing the sender. You should also delete the email and any attachment from your systems and should not copy the email or any attachment or disclose their content to any other person or entity. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Churchill Insurance Group plc or its affiliates or subsidiaries. Thank you. Churchill Insurance Group plc. Company Registration Number - 2280426. England. Registered Office: Churchill Court, Westmoreland Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 1DP. -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Hately Mike INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).