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# Creating a File Archive

You can create a file archive on any supported filesystem. When you format the archive, Smoke determines the available space and creates a table of contents file where this information is recorded. When you reformat an archive, you lose all previously archived entries within it. The archive itself is in a separate file.

NoteThe table of contents and archive files are both given the name you specify when you create the file, but the archive file has the extension .seg.

To create a file archive:

1. In the Archive menu, select File from the Archive Device box.

   By default, the File Path field shows the path of the archive file declared using the ClipMgtDevice File token in the software initialization configuration file.

   (a) File Path field

2. To use the default archive file “archive” in the /usr/tmp directory, go to step 4. Make sure there is no previously archived material in it before formatting. To create an archive file or select an existing one, go to step 3.
3. To change the archive file path, click the File Path field. The file browser appears. Change the directory, and then either:
   - Use the keyboard to enter a name for a new archive file and click Enter.
   - Select an existing archive file.

   The Archive menu appears and the name and path of the new or selected archive file appears in the File Path field.

4. Click Format.

   The Format menu appears.

   (a) Name field(b) Capacity field(c) Comment field

5. Use the Name and Comment fields to enter a name for the archive entry and any additional comments. (Each archive file contains one archive entry within which all other archived entries are saved.)
6. Set the capacity, in gigabytes, of the file archive segment by entering a value in the Capacity field. If the archive ends up being larger than what you entered in the Capacity field, its content will be split accross multiple archive segments.
   WarningIf you selected an existing archive, any material within it will be deleted when you reformat it in the following step.
7. Optional: Enable the All Same Settings option to make all the segments of a multi-segment archive identical in size to what was entered in the Capacity field. If All Same Settings is disabled, Smoke asks for the capacity of each new segment it needs to create.
8. Click Format.

The procedure for creating an archive on external USB and FireWire (IEEE 1394) storage devices is similar to creating a file archive. Before saving files to an archive, browse to the USB or FireWire device filesystem mount point.