Hi,

There are certain disk cloning tools and file encryption applications that cannot deal with compressed files. Is there a way to disable the option to compress files? I would like to have the possibility to not allow users to compress their hard drive using the WinXP utility (see attached screen shot).

Thanks!

One of the many reasons I install with FAT32 is to permanently prevent the file system from using compression.

And otherwise, there is no way to prevent the file compression from being used? FAT32 lacks the security provided by the NTFS partition, so in an enterprise environment that not an option.

Thanks for the reply though. Anyone with any other ideas?

Don't use an imaging utility that doesn't support those NTFS features.

Seriously though...I would be suspect of utilities that don't support them since they are an every day-common occurrence under WinXP. Hotfixes even create compressed folders under %SystemRoot% (if you don't use the nobackup switch).

What backup software are you dealing with? I haven't come across any that cause this kind of problem yet.

@Zxian

Actually, backup utility used (which by the way, it's actually a disk cloning software for failing HDD) is not the main concern. The main concern is that a file encryption software that uses a private key has problems encrypting files that are compressed.

So if no files are compressed, then the encryption software could perform its job.

And this encryption software is...?

Have you looked into using something like TrueCrypt? There's another alternative to it, but TC does its job very well, and AFAIK can handle compressed files without troubles.

You shouldnt have a problem encrypting compressed files (unless they are locked by the OS), but you will have a problem compressing encrypted files (you wont get too much compression unless you use an isecure algorythm)