"flipper" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 3 May 2008 16:09:36 -0500, "Dave" wrote:
..BTW, any ideas on what all that stuff is following the files for Volume
6?
(Files 7/14 through 14/14.) Someone mentioned recovery files,
Right, they're recovery files.
If there's a 'part' missing/scrambled then the 'combine and decode'
file will be corrupt. Now, there's a couple of ways to deal with that
eventuality. One would be to request the missing/scrambled part to be
re-posted, and it used to be commonly done, but you can see that could
become a real PITA for the poster.
PAR (Parity ARchive) runs an error correcting algorithm across the
entire file (or file set) creating the PAR files which can then be
used to not only check the validity of the original file (or file set)
but reconstruct missing parts, with the degree of reconstruction
possible depending on how many PARs were created.
You need a PAR program, like smartpar or quickpar, to use (and create)
the PAR files.
Btw, the numbers in the PAR file name indicates how many 'parts' they
contain so, for example, if you have missing/corrupted parts the PAR
program will, after scanning them, say something like "x parts needed"
and you only need to download enough of the PARs to fill that need.
And you don't need to start at '1' and download in sequence. You could
download just any one, or combination of, PAR file(s) that has enough
parts.
The 'first' PAR file, the smallest one, has no 'parts' but is all
that's needed to do the scan so what I usually do is download all the
parts and the first, 'no parts', PAR to run a check and see if any
correction is needed before wasting time downloading them all.
Might be worth mentioning there's another one, SFV (Simple File
Verification) that also needs it's own little program. It will verify
the integrity of a file set but has no correction capability and isn't
terribly useful anymore since PAR accomplished that, plus correction.
But some folks still post SFVs with the file set anyway.
RAR is a file (or file set) compressor similar to ZIP. They both can
break the archive into multiple files so you'd download all the RARs
(ZIPs), save them to disk, and then use WinRAR (or WinZIP if ZIP
files) to decode the entire archive. Or, if one or more of the RAR/ZIP
files were corrupt you'd download PARs to fix those so you have a
complete set to then be decoded by WinRAR/WinZIP.
but the six
volumes came through just fine with nothing more than a few half-hours
worth
of point and click, followed by the Combine and Decode function under the
Message menu.
Well, as I mentioned, if you do much downloading that'll get tiresome
real quick but a decent (binary) news reader will automatically
combine the messages into one for the message list and then just
clicking on that 'combined' message will download the whole ball of
wax while you're off doing something more amusing..
NZBs automate the process even more by being a 'one file' (the NZB
file) click for an entire file set. Like, say, a music collection
(album). So rather than having to select each song, and the PARs,
you'd just click on "Mr Bs Music Collection.nzb" and the whole thing
is downloaded while you're off doing something more amusing.
You need an NZB program to use those.
And I was honestly wondering if the Combine and Decode
function was what I needed to somehow use when you pointed me in that
direction.
I believe you.
Thanks again for that. Once you explained it it made perfect
sense.
Glad I could help.
Dave
To decode the par files, use quickpar
http://www.download.com/QuickPar/300...dlPid=10521463
On the combined and decoded files, click on the PAR2 file and it should open
the rest of the PAR records then tell you if the original records can be
corrected or what. Handy tool on Usenet where some parts can get corrupted
or missed.