Method to efficiently use the disk space while unarchiving

A data processing system for unarchiving data files, the data processing system comprising:

• a bus;
• a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains computer usable code;
• at least one managed device connected to the bus;
• a communications unit connected to the bus;
• and
• a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to read a value at a beginning of an archive file that specifies a total number of data files in the archive file, wherein the archive file is stored on a first disk space, wherein the data files in the archive file are sorted in ascending order based on file size, to determine a number of headers in the archive file based on the total number of data files in the archive file, wherein the number of headers are sorted in reverse order for their corresponding data files, to locate a largest data file in the archive file from an offset in an archive file header corresponding to the largest data file in the archive file, to unarchive the largest data file, wherein unarchiving the largest data file comprises copying the largest data file from the archive file to a second disk space, to release an amount of the first disk space occupied by the largest data file in the archive file by truncating the archive file, wherein the amount of the first disk space is equal to a size of the largest data file, and wherein at least a portion of the amount of the first disk space that is released is used for extracting the next file in the archive file, and to repeat the determining the location, copying, and releasing for each largest data file in the archive file until all of the data files are unarchived.

A computer program product for unarchiving data files, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer recordable storage medium having computer usable program code stored thereon, the computer usable program code comprising:
• computer usable program code for reading a value at a beginning of an archive file that specifies a total number of data files in the archive file, wherein the archive file is stored on a first disk space, wherein the data files in the archive file are sorted in ascending order based on file size;
• computer usable program code for determining a number of headers in the archive file based on the total number of data files in the archive file, wherein the number of headers are sorted in reverse order for their corresponding data files;
• computer usable program code for locating a largest data file in the archive file from an offset in an archive file header corresponding to the largest data file in the archive file;
• computer usable program code for unarchiving the largest data file, wherein unarchiving the largest data file comprises copying the largest data file to a second disk space;
• computer usable program code for releasing an amount of the first disk space occupied by the largest data file in the archive file by truncating the archive file, wherein the amount of the first disk space is equal to a size of the largest data file, and wherein at least a portion of the amount of the first disk space that is released is used for extracting the next file in the archive file;
• and
• computer usable program code for repeating the locating, unarchiving, and releasing for each largest data file in the archive file until all of the data files are unarchived.