puzzling phenomenon file sizes \ VOGONS

puzzling phenomenon file sizes

Topic actions

First post, by ncmark

Posted on 2025-06-06, 17:06

ncmark Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1028
Joined: 2011-04-22, 19:07

A puzzling phenomenon on file sizes. Was encoding some mp3 files. Zipped then up on one machine, unzipped on another, and files sizes don't match. Files were off by the same amount - 384 bytes.
I did an experiment - zipped and rezipped on same machine, no change in file sizes.
Ran virus scan on a couple of them but nothing flagged.
Is it possible windows media player is altering then? Doubtful. Not sure what to think.
I wonder if this could be due to different OSes with - one box 98SE, the other XP. The XP machine was connected to the internet once and only once to do updates and activate. Has hardly been used at all.
Yes I am looking at the file size and not the size on disk.
Any ideas?

Reply 1 of 11, by sfryers

Posted on 2025-06-06, 17:33

sfryers Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 125
Joined: 2023-03-31, 18:20
Location: United Kingdom

My guess would be the WinXP software is populating some metadata (the information you see when you right-click on the file, then select Properties->Details) that doesn't exist in Win98.

MT-32 Editor- a timbre editor and patch librarian for Roland MT-32 compatible devices: https://github.com/sfryers/MT32Editor

Reply 2 of 11, by Grzyb

Posted on 2025-06-06, 20:12

Grzyb Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2411
Joined: 2019-05-08, 13:47
Location: CET-1CEST-2

Yeah, something must be adding some MP3 tag - without even asking the user, after all "Windows knows better" 😜

Kiełbasa smakuje najlepiej, gdy przysmażysz ją laserem!

Reply 3 of 11, by myne

Posted on 2025-06-06, 21:11

myne Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1601
Joined: 2022-07-26, 03:47

Look into ntfs streams.

There are tools. That may or may not be the difference.

I built:
Convert old ASUS ASC boardviews to KICAD PCB!
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.
Dos+Windows 3.11+tcp+vbe_svga auto-install iso template
Script to backup Win9x\ME drivers from a working install
Re: The thing no one asked for: KICAD 440bx reference schematic

Reply 4 of 11, by Grzyb

Posted on 2025-06-06, 21:25

Grzyb Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2411
Joined: 2019-05-08, 13:47
Location: CET-1CEST-2

No need for any special tools to list Alternate Data Streams - "dir /r" command is enough.

Edit: but I don't think it works on Windows XP - Vista/2008 seem to be the minimum.

Kiełbasa smakuje najlepiej, gdy przysmażysz ją laserem!

Reply 5 of 11, by myne

Posted on 2025-06-06, 21:57

myne Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1601
Joined: 2022-07-26, 03:47

Thinking a bit more, Iirc part of the big security focus with the annoying are you sure you think this file is safe to run did store some information as an alt stream so it only annoyed you once.
384 bytes sounds like plenty for that and other info.

If you cbfd getting other tools, you should notice the same behaviour on the xp system copying to a fat/32 usb and probably back.

Reply 6 of 11, by ncmark

Posted on 2025-06-06, 23:12

ncmark Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1028
Joined: 2011-04-22, 19:07

something fishy here, not sure of the exact problem yet
Am am re-doing everything under 98 and will just burn to a DVD.

Reply 7 of 11, by Masaw

Posted on 2025-06-07, 06:53

Masaw Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 55
Joined: 2022-10-22, 04:44

copying files from one file system type or different cluster size into another file system type with differentr cluster size

VCheck+ Portable Antivirus for DOS
=========================
Main: https://archive.org/details/VCHECK/
====
Updated! : http://old-dos.ru/index.php?page=files&mode=f … =show&id=103705
======

Reply 8 of 11, by Grzyb

Posted on 2025-06-07, 11:43

Grzyb Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2411
Joined: 2019-05-08, 13:47
Location: CET-1CEST-2

You can attach a pair of affected files - just choose the small ones.
I would like to have a look into them...

Kiełbasa smakuje najlepiej, gdy przysmażysz ją laserem!

Reply 9 of 11, by Grzyb

Posted on 2025-06-07, 11:46

Grzyb Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2411
Joined: 2019-05-08, 13:47
Location: CET-1CEST-2

ncmark wrote on 2025-06-06, 17:06:

Yes I am looking at the file size and not the size on disk.

Masaw wrote on 2025-06-07, 06:53:

copying files from one file system type or different cluster size into another file system type with differentr cluster size

So I guess not...

Kiełbasa smakuje najlepiej, gdy przysmażysz ją laserem!

Reply 10 of 11, by ncmark

Posted on 2025-06-12, 11:04

ncmark Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1028
Joined: 2011-04-22, 19:07

Well, I resolved one problem with that machine. I was seeing very heavy processor loads (100%) transferring files. I solved that problem, turns out the hard drive was in PIO mode (even though I had installed the via 4-in-one driver.). The solution was actually to UNINSTALL the driver, and Windows automatically detected and installed the correct driver. Performance very much improved. From what I understand via drivers are buggy. Could that have been responsible? Doubtful, but possible I suppose.

Reply 11 of 11, by Grzyb

Posted on 2025-06-12, 12:39

Grzyb Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2411
Joined: 2019-05-08, 13:47
Location: CET-1CEST-2

Can't believe in file sizes changing due to buggy drivers.
It would mean data corruption so heavy, that everything would crash at once.

Kiełbasa smakuje najlepiej, gdy przysmażysz ją laserem!

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to Milliways