I know this is more than a little OT here, but it's my best bet to find others who are doing battle with GCG, so I apologize and beg indulgence: Has anyone else here been having trouble with the GCG Data DVDs that they send out every other month with database updates? It seems like every time I get one that Linux, Solaris, and MacOSX all have trouble reading. When I try and just read one that has errors with dd or cp, I get nondescript I/O errors. When I try and make a tarball to take the image elsewhere to work with, I get errors such as: tar: ./gcggenbank/gb_pl_001.seq_z: File shrank by 22522503 bytes; padding with zeros and the resulting tarball is useless. I've called Accelrys tech support and basically been told that if I have problems I ought to get a windows machine and use an FTP daemon to install from. Needless to say, this is less than helpful advice as I don't have a system that I can spare to put windows on (and I am not about to ask my boss for several hundred dollars for a system that I would use only once every other month, to run a server for a protocol we have banned within our organization). Eventually, I get new DVDs, but I get a line about being the only one complaining and a lot of runaround about it. So, am I really a freak of nature, or should I stop expecting to get DVDs that can be read on the same platform the data is to be installed on? Andy -- Andrew Fant | And when the night is cloudy | This space to let Molecular Geek | There is still a light |---------------------- fant at pobox.com | That shines on me | Disclaimer: I don't Boston, MA | Shine until tomorrow, Let it be | even speak for myself