best archiving method for 100,000+ files?

[Barfo]

I have to backup a folder with 100,000+ files to an external HD, and I think it's best to put them into a big file for simpler management, I just want to know which one is more reliable since I don't want to lose everything if a single byte is different in the backup, suggestions?

 

[MustISO]

Either one, I've never heard of anyone losing a file to a compression method. You can do things to verify the data.

 

[BeauJangles]

how long will that take to compress?