Tell me if I have this strait. Let's say I wanted to download an .iso but it was archived into .rar format. The whole image comes in 10 .rar files. I would download all 10 .rar files, open 7zip (or whatever program) and ONLY EXTRACT THE 1ST .RAR. The program extracts the other .rar files and gets the iso. Then I could burn that .iso and it should work. Is this right? Am I way off?
yup thats exactly correct. open first one and itl process the whole lot in one go. But that is only correct with winrar itself. With other programs you may have to extract every one. Some other programs may have multiple rar support. Best to check the programs features.
Thanks you swarfega. I have been trying to figure it out for a while. I found the rar files (I wish I knew where now) for 7077 but didn't know what to do. I had to wait 14 hours to get it another way. Next time that situation comes up.....I will know what to do. Thanks again.
There are three different variations of .RAR files: self-contained, encapsulated and serial. Self-contained is obvious -- there is only one file and it ends in .rar. Encapsulated is the most secure, consisting of a series of numbered files, a CRC file, a description file, and the .rar trigger file. You often find this in torrent downloads of movies and television shows. The last, serial, is simply a series of files in the format of filename.part1.rar, filename.part2.rar, etc.
With the first two, you simply start the decompression process on the .rar file. With the third, you choose the filename.part1.rar file. Regardless, as long as all the various sub-files are in the same folder, both WinRAR and 7-zip will restore the original properly.
7zip, gzip, izarc, file splitter do the same.... then even if you did run into a problem/program that does 1 at a time, aka winzip for multiple zip files, just highlight all, then extract to each folder or one folder.
but yea, usually the .rar or the .001 ... but most times it really doesnt matter where you start, you could theorectically start in the middle (given association with the right app ie; winrar) and it will continue to extract all the way thru. grab an sfv checker while you are at it, but be cautious as some do report false .bad files on win7... not sure if due to 7 or the sfv checker itself.
yeah if your new to that aspect Id suggest using winrar to make life easier.
Do you guys find it faster or easier this way or using torrent to get large files?
What usually comes out first for a "desirable" file?
Winrar is worth it though, it is better than anything else.
And personally when making rar files, I like to number them backwards just to piss people off :)
Haha don't be doing that stuff man.....some of us are still learning. haha
I have heard WinRar is the best although I have heard a lot of good about 7zip too. I don't want something that's going to take over my system. I'm sure there are file associations you can set in any of them. Thanks for the advice guys.
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