Hi I'm a newbie at Linux, but I have a data file with extension name *.archive that I need to restore *and I don't know how!*.

I have Red Hat Linux 5.xx running under VMWare on Win7. Linux seems to come with Archive Manager File Roller 2.16 that tells me file is incompatible. On Windows PeaZip cannot open it either.

Any helpers would be appreciated thanks?

How was the file created? What application is the data from?

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Just a quick thought, try renaming it from *.archive to *.zip?

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With all my years of experience with Linux, I am not familiar with any Linux tool that generates an archive of file(s) with the .archive file name extension. As inquired earlier, how was this file created?

Perhaps you could glean more info about the file (and share with us) by using the 'file' utility to deduce the type of file; try this command:

file *.archive

Please post back what your system reports. Thank you.

Almost looks like they try to make a hidden file. Right click and properties - what does it list as size and so on. Looks more like a file name then a type.

It is possibly a .tar.gz (or similar) archive, rather than an .archive file (whatever that may be, as Gumballl suggests).

I dunno about red hat, but with debian/ubuntu derivatives, there is a standard tool that deals with archives,

Also, an archive can be deconstructed using the command line.

Maybe you could let us know where it came from - the www, or a comp using a different operating system.

If it is not confidential and not too big, maybe you could email it to one of us and we could play with it.

Cheers, AA

This might, just might, be an archive that has been created with something like Truecrypt.

If this is the case you will need Truecrypt to be able to open it. Unfortunately, you will also need the password that was used when creating the archive. No chance of opening it otherwise.

DM

With all my years of experience with Linux, I am not familiar with any Linux tool that generates an archive of file(s) with the .archive file name extension. As inquired earlier, how was this file created?

Perhaps you could glean more info about the file (and share with us) by using the 'file' utility to deduce the type of file; try this command:

file *.archive

Please post back what your system reports. Thank you.

Ok, tried that - thanks - and it says:

$ file ew9910.archive

ew9910.archive: data

It is possibly a .tar.gz (or similar) archive, rather than an .archive file (whatever that may be, as Gumballl suggests).

I dunno about red hat, but with debian/ubuntu derivatives, there is a standard tool that deals with archives,

Also, an archive can be deconstructed using the command line.

Maybe you could let us know where it came from - the www, or a comp using a different operating system.

If it is not confidential and not too big, maybe you could email it to one of us and we could play with it.

Cheers, AA

Thanks to all for ideas. I tried them all without success so far. Was curious as a Linux newbie if archive was a well know format. It comes from a free online tutorial at address below. The file is big at over 400MB. I may ask the web site for help, but as the tutorial is free and also very old, I am not hopeful.

http://www.iris.edu/hq/resource/msp_promax

Dataset for use in tutorial (A short seismic reflection survey in Papua New Guinea - 9/99) ~400MB

Edited January 5, 201511 yr by WorriedNoodle

That link says that it is a dataset for a proprietary app called promax which must be purchased to complete the tutorial

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With all my years of experience with Linux, I am not familiar with any Linux tool that generates an archive of file(s) with the .archive file name extension. As inquired earlier, how was this file created?

Perhaps you could glean more info about the file (and share with us) by using the 'file' utility to deduce the type of file; try this command:

file *.archive

Please post back what your system reports. Thank you.

Ok, tried that - thanks - and it says:

$ file ew9910.archive

ew9910.archive: data

Ok, so it is not a tar-ball (compressed or otherwise), nor a ZIP file. The fact that 'file' sees it as pure data indicates that it was probably created by a non-standard utility.

Based on your follow-up reply, it seems the file needs to be 'ingested' using the ProMAX utility. Unfortunately the link from where to acquire this non-free utility is broken.

OK, thanks guys. Perhaps this is ProMAX related and not a Unix issue.

I will ask the web site and see if they can answer. I have a copy of ProMAX but I am not an expert, which is why I wanted the free tutorial. However the ProMAX manual and the software interface does not mention *.archive type data that I can see.

Looks like Promax has strong connections with Halliburton - you might be able to contact Dick Chaney (boo...) and Condy (yeah!).

I think I found the answer eventually, ProMAX has a built in restore function called Protar! Wasn't listed in the main operators manual but found on another link!

https://esd.halliburton.com/support/LSM/GGT/ProMAXSuite/ProMAX/5000/5000_8/Help/promax/parchive.pdf