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Miscellaneous Ramblings

StuffIt Standard 10.0 a Must Have: Faster, More Flexible, and More Efficient

Charles Moore - 2005.09.19 - Tip Jar

Late last week, Allume Systems released StuffIt Standard 10 for Mac OS X. Like version 9 - but unlike earlier versions - Stuffit Standard now has just two modules: DropStuff (which incorporates the functions of the former freestanding DropTar and DropZip modules) and the freeware StuffIt Expander.

There is now a compression format pulldown menu from which you can choose Stuffit X (default), Stuffit, .tar, and .zip, as well as a variety of segmenting options.

However, OS X 10.3 Panther and 10.4 Tiger have built-in file compression and archiving. Want to compress a file or folder for attaching to an email message? Just Control-click or right-click its icon and then choose "Create archive of [file name]" from the contextual menu that appears. A .zip copy of the selected file will be created, leaving the original untouched.

It's all very quick and slick, it's always there for instant use, and .zip archives are certain to be openable by your PC-using friends, while lots of PC owners don't have Stuffit. So why do OS X users need Stuffit any more?

Well, first, it's a good idea to keep your copy of at least the freeware Stuffit Expander component of Stuffit Standard up to date, and it's available as a standalone download. There really is no substitute that matches Stuffit Expander, and if you have been experiencing difficulty opening compressed files, you should probably download the latest version.

Unstuff Formats supported by Stuffit Expander 10:

.sitx, .sit, .zip, .sea, .tar, .bin, .hqz, .gz, .bz2, .tgz, .lha, .mime, .rar, .arc, .pf, .uu, .uue, .exe, .cab, .yenc, .z

As for DropStuff, it still has a substantial advantage in compression efficiency. As a comparison test, I compressed the same 1.3 MB folder containing text documents using the built-in Tiger archive command and Stuffit Standard 10 DropStuff respectively. As you can see from the Get Info screen shots below, the Stuffit .sitx file at 208k is nearly half the size of the zip archive at 394k. If small file size is a priority, Stuffit is still the way to go.

Zipped folder is 392 KB Stuffed folder is 208 KB

The point I was most particularly interested in when checking out in Stuffit 10 was whether its speed had been improved. Stuffit 9 was maddeningly sluggish on my G3 iBook, especially when compared with Tiger's built-in archive function, which is satisfyingly zippy.

I'm delighted to report that with version 10, Stuffit's speed performance has improved - a lot. DropStuff Is still slower that the Tiger Finder archive command, but the gap has narrowed substantially. A tip of the hat to Allume's software engineers for a major efficiency improvement with this build.

Aside from the enhanced speed, the most significant new feature in Stuffit Standard 10 is that it can compress JPEG photos and images by up to 30% with no loss in image quality. In a test run, Stuffit Standard 10 reduced the size of a 664 KB folder full of JPEGs to 304 KB, less than half as large. However, Stuffit's advantage over the Finder archive command was much less pronounced in this comparison than with the folder full of text files, as the zip archive was a compact 332 KB.

There have been quite a few reports of buggy behavior in the early going with the more powerful and system-integrated the Stuffit Deluxe 10, but I've encountered no problems so far with Stuffit Standard 10.

One oddity I've noticed is that Stuffit X files compressed in Stuffit DropStuff 9 and 10 show up with generic icons on my OS 9.2.2 desktop. With version 8.0.2 Stuffit X files, the proper icons were supported.

Stuffit Standard Edition 10 compresses files up to 98% smaller so email attachments don't bounce back when they exceed the size limits imposed by many email systems. The smaller files save and regain disk space, maximize bandwidth, and accelerate upload and download time.

Key Stuffit Standard Edition 10 Features

Photo Compression
- Compress Photos up to 30%
- Compress without any quality loss
Compress & Expand
- Open and Save Windows archives
- Create StuffIt, Zip, and Tar archives
- Search Archives by Name, Date, & more
- Split files across multiple CDs & DVDs
- Multiprocessor Enabled
Send
- Built in FTP, email, & .mac transfers
- Split apart files to beat email size limits
Protect
- Strong 512-bit encryption
- Protection against data corruption
Encrypt Zip and StuffIt archives
- Expander allows you to access any file, download, or attachment
- DropStuff creates self-expanding files for Mac and Windows, .zip archives for Windows users, and .tar archives with StuffIt, BZIP, GZIP, or UNIX compression.

DropStuff 10 includes a powerful archiving method that lets users add only those files to an archive that match a specific set of parameters they create. For example, by using the "Stuff with Filters" command from the File menu, users can quickly select their documents folder and archive only those files from that folder that were modified within the last week. Filters can be created that add files to an archive based on their matching name, date, and size based attributes.

StuffIt Expander now supports .cab (a Windows archive format), .yenc (popular with newsgroups), and dozens of other popular compression and encoding archive types.

Expander allows you to access any file, download, or attachment

DropStuff creates self-expanding files for Mac and Windows, .zip archives for Windows users, and .tar archives with StuffIt, BZIP, GZIP, or Unix compression.

Bottom line: For speed and convenience, or for file sharing with the dark side, Tiger's archive function works great, but for the smallest file size and comprehensive expansion versatility, go with Stuffit.

System requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 or higher

StuffIt Standard Edition is $49.99 shareware. Registered users can upgrade to StuffIt Standard 10 for $14.99. All registered owners of StuffIt can upgrade to StuffIt Deluxe 10.0 for $29.99.

Link: StuffIt

Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and began writing for Mac websites in May 1998. His The Road Warrior column is a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com. If you find his articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

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