NTFS compressed folder

[DynV]

I have a custom program (batch file) which make daily logs. I keep the original just in case but I use a summary of it which is made from pruning the original file (threough regex & other replacements) making an uncompressed file about the 1/3 of the (original) size. After I created the summary I'd like to compress the original (keeping it just in case, will seldomly be used).

I made an archives folder inside the logs folder which I moved 3 (original) file just after (its creation). I then remembered about tweaking with folder properties and seeing comthing about compression ; I checked "Compress contents to save disk space" in Advanced. Curiosity got the better of me and I really wanted to see how it did compared to a "regular" archive file.stumbling on Compression ratio of Windows file compression so I tried the command Compact but I got for result

>compact archives\

Listing .\archives\
New files added to this directory will be compressed.


Of 0 files within 1 directories
0 are compressed and 0 are not compressed.
0 total bytes of data are stored in 0 bytes.
The compression ratio is 1.0 to 1.

>dir archives

Directory of .\archives

24/03/2012 04:35 PM <DIR> .
24/03/2012 04:35 PM <DIR> ..
21/03/2012 11:59 PM 1,063,983 pinger-60-120321.txt
22/03/2012 11:59 PM 1,232,328 pinger-60-120322.txt
24/03/2012 12:00 AM 1,235,511 pinger-60-120323.txt
3 File(s) 3,531,822 bytes
2 Dir(s) 20,409,688,064 bytes free

and as you can see the folder contained files so somethign was wrong with the command I then moved inside the directory and had another try

>compact

Listing \archives\
New files added to this directory will be compressed.

1063983 : 1063983 = 1.0 to 1 pinger-60-120321.txt
1232328 : 1232328 = 1.0 to 1 pinger-60-120322.txt
1235511 : 1235511 = 1.0 to 1 pinger-60-120323.txt

Of 4 files within 1 directories
1 are compressed and 3 are not compressed.
3,531,870 total bytes of data are stored in 3,531,870 bytes.
The compression ratio is 1.0 to 1.

I then thought it could have been because the files were already there co forced compaction

>compact /c /f *.*
Compressing files in \archives\
pinger-60-120321.txt   1063983 :	266240 = 4.0 to 1 [OK]
pinger-60-120322.txt   1232328 :	307200 = 4.0 to 1 [OK]
pinger-60-120323.txt   1235511 :	307200 = 4.0 to 1 [OK]
4 files within 1 directories were compressed.
3,531,870 total bytes of data are stored in 880,688 bytes.
The compression ratio is 4.0 to 1.

>compact

Listing \archives\
New files added to this directory will be compressed.

  1063983 :	266240 = 4.0 to 1 C pinger-60-120321.txt
  1232328 :	307200 = 4.0 to 1 C pinger-60-120322.txt
  1235511 :	307200 = 4.0 to 1 C pinger-60-120323.txt

Of 4 files within 1 directories
4 are compressed and 0 are not compressed.
3,531,870 total bytes of data are stored in 880,688 bytes.
The compression ratio is 4.0 to 1.

but later I moved a new file (original log, not summary) inside the compressed folder but it seem it wasn't compressed

>compact
Listing \archives\
New files added to this directory will be compressed.
  1063983 :	266240 = 4.0 to 1 C pinger-60-120321.txt
  1232328 :	307200 = 4.0 to 1 C pinger-60-120322.txt
  1235511 :	307200 = 4.0 to 1 C pinger-60-120323.txt
  1234703 :   1234703 = 1.0 to 1   pinger-60-120324.txt
Of 5 files within 1 directories
4 are compressed and 1 are not compressed.
4,766,573 total bytes of data are stored in 2,115,391 bytes.
The compression ratio is 2.3 to 1.

Is there comthing I don't understand about NTFS compressed folder? I thought those were folder which added files were automatically compressed. Please help.

Thnak you kindly