WinRAR - compatibility between old and new versions

[scoopyx]

Hey everyone.
I'm about to buy the new WinRAR5, because I've discovered that archives created using the new version will not extract using my older version (which is 4.something, from memory).
That's okay, I don't mind.
But my question is, will the new version 5 decompress archives created with the old version?
I've Googled and looked everywhere I can think of, but can't find the answer.
At this stage, I'm thinking I'll have to have both my old version and the new version running on my (Windows 7 Home Premium) machine.
Is anyone able to set me straight on this one?
Thanks and regards,

scoopyx.

 

[scoopyx]

Update.
Just got home and tried it.
The answer to my question is yes, in case anyone else is wondering.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

SAVE YOUR MONEY simply download 7-Zip --much better, FREE and will handle RAR files.

7-Zip

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Invader440]

Hi there

SAVE YOUR MONEY simply download 7-Zip --much better, FREE and will handle RAR files.

7-Zip

Cheers
jimbo

X2 on 7 Zip.

 

[A Guy]

7-Zip still doesn't support the new RAR 5 format. 7-Zip supports RAR 2/3/4 formats only.

A Guy

 

[johnsmith12]

Yes of course. I'm using Winrar 5.10 beta 4 a trial version and it works fine. In theory, most of software will keep all features of older versions, if not who will buy it?

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

temporarily on a Linux system you can use THIS to extract WinRAR-5 format.

UnRAR 5.x source code .
See : http://www.rarlab.com/rar/unrarsrc-5.0.2.tar.gz

Developer Igor Pavlov of 7-zip says he's working on this problem.

However I think for the most part rar5 archives are so rare that I'd wait until 7-zip is fixed and in the meantime use the Linux tool.

Using a new incompatible compression format - especially as HDD space is plentiful and cheap IMO doesn't seem to make much sense even when PB of data are involved -- until the archive is fairly common it's not worth using it.

I suspect this new archive was done not so much because it's streets better than rar4 - but because WinRAR wants to "monetise" (don't you just hate that word !!) the product again - after all why PAY for something when an alternative is BETTER and FREE.

IMO RAR5 isn't really worth the miniscule compression improvement although it DE-COMPRESSES faster - but IMO that's not worth the hassle of using a new archive format.

One problem with 7-zip is that it doesn't always use ALL CPU's / cores in decompressing which is why it takes longer but there you are -- if you really NEED the speed and currently incompatibility with most people go for WINRAR -- myself I'll wait for the next iteration of 7-Zip and if I do get stuck with a rar5 archive will use the Linux tool.

Cheers
jimbo