RAR, Par and segmented mpg's

[rotuts]

Hello
I asked this question a few weeks ago and god a good answer but can'e find it as a trhead, as I ask again sorry

how to you download and make sure you have a complete set of vids and what program on a mac do you use to rejoin the various segments and file typoes out there opn the web?

thanks and sorry I can't find the original reply

rotuts

[sdm]

After you've downloaded....
These two will look through all the files and check that all the parts are there. If they aren't there, they'll rebuild them using the .par files if it can. Then recombine.
MacPAR deLuxe
UnRarX

This one can only recombine (I think)
MacHacha

-- sdm

[terryj]

You can also use Stuffit 9.02 or later to unpack
.rar segments, but yes for .par checking, and verification
of valid segments, you need either Mac Par Deluxe
( *high reccomendation*)
or UnRarX.

[rotuts]

thanks! one question: there are par2 and rar files, a series with the same name. are Both sets needed to make the movie or only the PAR2? or only the .rar?

thanks for the tips

rotuts

[terryj]

Think of it as this:
The Par2 file is the Installer tome,
the .rar are the chunks of the installer it must unpack
to get your result, which is the movie file.

You could force individually unpack the .rar, but if a .par2 is present,
you should ALWAYS double click on that to get, say
MacPar Deluxe, to verify that all pieces are valid,
and then it will upack the .rars for you.

[rotuts]

terr:

Im still trying to learn about this. ive seem PAR2 files then mpg's in volure parts, then just the mpg as a stand alone file. if the file is a stand alone one, why have the PAR2 and the mpgs in volumes?

isn't the idea of PAR2 and the mpg volumes to make a long movie into shorter parts that you then accumulate maybe between servers or over time?

thanks rotut

[terryj]

The goal of Par2 is to enable
( *cough* cheap bastards on dial up *cough*#)
for multi part segments that can be
recombined from one or multiple servers,
and then pieced back together to enable the
one stand alone file.

So for instance, if your on 56k ( god, i hope not) modem,
and there is a 1.33GB mpeg-2 file standalone, and a
Multi-RAR ( say 64 piece) archive with Par2 files
(11 total) at a total of 1.37GBs,
then you would want to download the
Par2 and segmented .rar files, as you'd have
a better chance of recieving the smaller files piecemeal,
with less chance of data corruption, than you would
the whole COMPLETE file, which 80% of the time
gets corrupted on a 56k modem download, in some
form or fashion.

if a Par2/segmented RAR archive gets corrupted over
56k download, then you could easily patch/repair the:
missing segments
hosed segments
corrupted ( by bits) segments

And have a complete working copy of the end
MPG-2 file after fixing.

If you try and download the whole standalone on 56k,
you could:
get cut off in the download
get a corrupted segment of data, with no way to fix it
get an incomplete download, and then have to start all over again.

If you are on broadband, you would want to get the
file either via torrent,
or you could do the standalone, provided your not
on a capped download
cycle ( 1MB, 2 MB, or 3 MB).
Doing it via Torrent would insure a faster transfer
per your connection, and less of a chance of data corruption.


(# I apologize in advance to any who may resemble or take offense to this remark.)

[rotuts]

Terr

thanks for the carefully thought out reply. as I now have DSL which is cheaper than my dial up Im trying tolear about these segs.

but how do you know about all the parts in either PAR2 or rar before you aattmemt the download? is there a specific info file you look for? then save that and look for the pieces?

what is torrent? I verison DSL and I guess have to go through them?

thanks

rotut

[terryj]

rotus, good to know on the DSL thing...

1. In many cases, a reputable poster would include a
.NFO file (a text file used to denote iNFOrmation of
an archive), which would tell you how many segments,
how many rar's, etc with the segments to download.
That's the file you look for.

However many do not, and the only way then to tell at
that point, is to use a program like UnRARX or my fav,
MacParDelxue, which when it reads the Par2 file, will
extract that info to match up the contents of what
you downloaded.
if a file is missing a segment, then the program will note
that and try to recover it. If there are too many missing
or corrupted segments, it will tell you it cannot restore.

2. go here and read up on Torrent:
Torrents

[Baldrick]

rotuts: use the search and search for you username if you can't find old posts...or click on "View your posts" on the forum index page...

[rotuts]

bald

thanks for the tip but I tried that and couldn't find my posts. I also no longer can automatically log in when I go to the forum so something might be screwey with my browser. Im using mozilla and its funky on the cookies for some reason and thats new

glad to see you are a blackadder fan. I has all the dvds out from the library a while ago a fine program

rotuts