Tar is a good, general purpose tool that is still very widely used.

The main question is whether the system you will eventually use to unpack
those files will also have tar. If it is the same system, you're good. If
it is a different system, you would be wise to check first before relying
on tar in the future. You can store that tar file anywhere, even a system
that doesn't use folder hierarchies, and then move it into a modern system
with a hierarchical file system and get back all your files.

I've found that tar is pretty good across systems and architectures. A tar
file on one system can be successfully unpacked on most other systems if
there's a tar on that system, in my experience. As you've probably
realized, since tar captures your directory structure (ie, nested folders),
extracting your files recreates your organization of them.

To ensure you maintain the integrity of your tar file, run a MD5 or SHA2
checksum on it and keep the resulting string. After you've copied the file
across a bunch of different systems (or whatever you need to do with it),
rerun the checksum and if the string you get is the same, you can be
confident all your files are safe and sound.

Regards,

        David Macfarlane.

On Thu, Sep 21, 2023 at 7:30 PM Amy Schuler <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi all,
> does anyone use the tar command to group files anymore?  I'm looking to
> group some .docx files together to archive in a system that does not use
> folder hierarchies.  I'm thinking of doing this without compression.
> Thoughts/comments, or good alternatives?
> Thanks!
> Amy
>
> --
>
> Amy C. Schuler (she/her)
> Director, Information Services & Library
>
> Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies | 2801 Sharon Turnpike | Millbrook, NY
> www.caryinstitute.org
>