14 DAY TRIAL // File archiving is no longer what it used to be. Back in the day, you would compress files to gain more space on the hard disk or to comply with size restrictions when sending data over email or instant messaging software. With online services that offer plenty of file storage space and sharing possibilities, only more experienced users appeal to file archiving solutions on a daily basis today.
There are free solutions on the market ready to tackle and fulfill plenty of users’ needs, but paid products have always provided extended functionality. This is also true for PowerArchiver, which comes with a freeware flavor, as well as shareware one. The freebie sports all the basic features of the paid product and by comparison with programs in the same class, it is a superset.
The paid edition features adjacent options that come in handy and which can very well replace full applications. $34.95 is the price for the professional edition of the app, which can be tested for free for a period of 30 days. At the moment of writing the review, the developer offers a 10% discount, lowering the price to $31.45.
PowerArchiver has a standard-looking interface very similar to Windows Explorer, which should not pose any trouble to users. All the main options (create new, open, add, extract, delete encrypt or verify) stand out in the toolbar while more specific ones are available in the menu bar in the upper part of the interface.
Unlike the great majority of archiving programs out there, PowerArchiver has an impressive set of supported file types, covering everything in the popular types section, as well as the less used types. It can create ZIP, 7-ZIP, LHA, CAB, BH, TAR or ISO, but when it comes to formats it can open, the list is much larger: ZIP, ZIPX, JAR, 7-ZIP, RAR, LHA, ARJ, ARC, ACE, ZOO, CAB, TAR and ISO types.
During our tests, we put PowerArchiver against a 1.13GB large TXT file, instructing it to compress it to a ZIP archive. The program did an impressive job, spending only 31 seconds to bring the file to 4% of its initial size. Using the default parameters for a 7-ZIP compression job, PowerArchiver took a little over 7 minutes to shrink the 1.13GB TXT to only 3% of its size.
Resource usage for these operations was different as ZIP used multicore compression and required more CPU power, raising usage to an average of 90% during the task. For 7-ZIP archiving, the application required an average of 400MB of RAM while CPU rose to about 60%.
The advantages of PowerArchiver do not resume to the impressive number of formats supported, because the app also makes available an impressive amount of options with encryption being among them. There are three encryption formats to choose from (ZIP, 7-ZIP and the proprietary PAE), according to which you can pick the scrambling algorithm (PK, AES 128/292/256-bit, DES and Triple DES).
Depending on the selected compression type and encryption method, there are the options to hide the filename, delete the original file after the encryption procedure completes or create a self-extracting file. As you can see, the application allows you to encrypt uncompressed files as well as archives already stored on the disk. Be careful with the chosen password because losing it means locking yourself outside the archive.
Under the Tools menu, you will find a batch of instruments power users will definitely appreciate. Archive conversion, ZIP archive repairing, create or merge multi-volume ZIP files, batch archive creation or running a multiple extraction procedure are options that can make your life a whole lot easier and save you plenty of time. All of these are available in both the freeware and the paid version of the app.
Repairing ZIP archives with PowerArchive is a cinch as loading it and starting the process is all you have to do. In return, you will get a healthy compression and a report with the amount of the items that are okay. In all our tests, the app did a wonderful job and fixed the archives in the shortest amount of time.
In the case of batch archive creation, you have the possibility to add multiple files and folders to be compressed and save the result in a custom folder or the original path of the data. More importantly, the program allows you to group files from the same folder into the same archive or compress each of them individually.
Creating self-extracting archives is a simple task that can be accomplished even by more inexperienced users thanks to the wizard guiding your every step. Archive type can be ZIP, 7-ZIP or CAB and can be protected by a user-defined password in the case of the first two formats. Right before the actual process starts, you get to view all your settings and the chance to go back and make the desired modifications. As expected, extracting files from such a container can be done from computers without PowerArchiver installed.
The “Burner” menu in the application is dedicated strictly to paying customers. The options it contains can be regarded as bonus features of the software: burn files to disc (CD, DVD and BD), burn ISO image or create and ISO from the inserted media. All the basic functions are present, including disc erasing options. As part of the basic functionality of disc burning possibilities, PowerArchiver offers burn speed selection, disc labeling, multi-session support, file verification after burn process completes as well as automatic disc erasure before writing (if supported by media). On the downside, there is no time estimation for finishing the task.
Mounting virtual drives (the Professional version only) cannot be done with the default installation of the system. You’ll be asked to download a set of specific drivers in order to be able to use the virtual drive function of the program. A dialog will pop up as soon as the download of the patch completes to ask for permission to install it. The best part of this installation of drivers for PowerArchiver Virtual Drive Emulator is that the system restart is not required.
Creating a virtual drive and mounting an ISO image to see its contents is an easy endeavor in PowerArchiver (functionality reserved to the Professional version of the application). A wizard will be by your side through the entire process, which consists only in selecting the ISO archive you want to mount. The reverse procedure is no more complicated either.
The Configuration panel of the program is extensive, filled with plenty of options available both in the freeware version, as well in the paid one. This is the place from where you can tweak PowerArchiver to look the way you want it to, customize the options available in the interface or change the skin (the Professional version only).
You can also define new temporary destinations or the programs you want to view files with or scan them for threats. Moreover, modifying the options in the shell extension or changing file format associations are a few clicks away.
File preview (Professional version only) involves a wide array of file types, ranging from text (TXT, NFO, CMD, BAT, INI, LOG, etc.) and image (BMP, ICO, JPG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, PSD, etc.) to media (AVI, MPG, MP3, ASF, MP4, FLAC, APE, FLV, etc.) and web-related (HTML, SHTML, XML, PHP, MHT, etc.). It is a huge list of extensions and you can add your own so that you can open compressed data as long as there is a program on the system that can open the format.
Customizing the compression profiles (the Professional version only) is not a job for the average user as changing anything in this window can make the difference between a resource intensive compression process that takes little time to complete and one that requires more time to finish but which allows other activities on the computer. You can create your own profile for each of the archive types supported (ZIP, 7-ZIP, CAB, LHA, BH and TAR) and tweak compression level, method used or enable data encryption in the process.
Besides all the basic functions of the program, that of file compression utility, the application offers paid customers additional instruments that expand the use of the program, disc burning being one example but not the only one because PowerArchiver can function as an FTP client and a password manager. Of course, the range of options is reduced to the basics for these instruments and in the case of the password manager, adapted to the program. Nevertheless, you can connect to an FTP location easily and store your credentials for access in future sessions.
As far as the password manager goes (Professional version only), its function is restricted to remembering the countersigns of the encrypted archive only. Thus, it cannot stand as a full utility that can save any passphrase you want. However, it comes in handy when you work with encrypted archives.
PowerArchiver compiles a large number of utilities under the same interface. It rarely happens to see a suite encompass three additional instruments to expand its initial function and do it right. In this case, under the same roof, there is an FTP client with basic options, a burner that can also create bootable discs and a pretty solid backup utility (features compression and encryption options, scheduling, CD/DVD/Blu-ray, FTP/SFTP destinations, alerts) that do not hinder the file compressing activity one bit. Everything is well organized in the interface and the modular architecture permits toggling between the windows of the additional instruments.
The Good PowerArchiver’s list of advantages is quite long even for the freeware edition, and the price for the full flavored one is not too steep considering the extended functionality. Backup, FTP transfer (Professional version only), disc burning and ISO mount capabilities (Professional version only) are the extras you get with the application.
It can handle a huge list of file compression formats and offers plenty of options for power users to tinker with. The Preview mode (the Professional version only) lets you view compressed text, image or media file formats.
You can create custom compression profiles that fit your needs, as well as convert archives from one format to another. For the receiver to easily open the compressed data you send, PowerArchiver allows you to create self-executable archives.
Also, we could not find a function to export settings for the simple purpose of backing them up or for later import in a new installation of PowerArchiver. Although offering a lot with regards to compression formats and customization, the application also provides a set of additional tools destined especially for the paying customers: disc burning, FTP client and management of archive passwords. It is a huge suite that brings little to no drawbacks for plenty of users. Before jumping to add the product to the shopping cart, you can try all of its functions for a test period of 30 days.The Bad
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