Rar extractor that can span 4gb file boundary?

[dencorso]

+1. I think loblo just hit jackpot!

It's the least complicated way to achieve the desired result, and needs no software installation at all, and uses only free software! Great!

[Guest wsxedcrfv]

Well, I have to admit this is somewhat interesting...

The movie in question was downloaded as 12 rar files, each being 400 mb in size. When expanded by winrar, you get 93 files, each about 50 mb in size. Why that is, I don't know. Only the first file is .rar, the rest end with .r00 through .r92. If you tell winrar to expand the .rar file, it starts generating the .mkv file, which is about 4.7 gb if you do this under XP/NTFS.

Now I didn't know you could do this, but if I drag and drop the 50 mb .rar file into VLC, well wouldn't you know - VLC starts to play the movie. I can move the position indicator and jump to anywhere in the movie pretty much instantly and cleanly. And the movie will play right to the very end if I let it.

So this is really cool. The only thing I'd like to do is to re-compress the smaller 94 files into (ideally) 2 files - one being 4 gb and the other one - what ever is left over. Trouble is, I don't think I can tell winrar to recompress a set of rar files into another set of rar files without the intermediate step of generating the 4.7 gb mkv file - which naturally can't be done under win-98. I'll have to try to take the 4.7 gb mkv file on an XP system and compress it with winrar to 2 files and see if I can still play that on vlc on win-98.

[me4tw]

Yes there is a way.

Select the first archive of the multivolume set in winrar (i used winrar 4.01 beta, the newest version as of the moment).

Then go tools->convert archives (alt-q)

in the archive types pane scroll across and select rar [it should have a (1) after it to show that there is one archive in that filter category].

Then you should see the first archive of the set appear on the left pane.

Now go to compresion... button, choose type of rar and in the split size, enter your new split width. This is the basic new archive dialog exvept it seems the filename part is greyed out, it will make rar archives in the same folder with same name.

This might cause a problem of file clobbering, so do this:

if your existing archives are .part01.rar then select use old naming convention on one of the compresion... window tbs, and vice versa if your existing filres are .rar, .r0 etc

IDK if winrar extracts to temp intermediately because i tested with a 1.5meg mp3 split into 128K chunks as part01.rar etc converted into 256K chunks as .rar, .r01 etc, and my computer done that instantly.

[rloew]

I have written a KERNEL32.DLL Hook that allows what appears to be one large File to be stored in multiple Files. This allows Applications to work with files that appear to be larger than 4GiB.

You can Download, UNRAR, etc. a 6GB MKV File as the OP wanted to do and then watch it with a Player. The Applications, of course, must support large Files.

[M()zart]

rloew, can it be downloaded anywhere?

[I41Mar]

To rloew : the kernel32.dll hook is KernelEx compatible? And it is freeware or not?

Thanks in advance.

I41Mar

[dencorso]

If you mean RLoew's kernel32.dll patch for 4GiB (minus 1 byte) files, yes, it's freeware. And yes, it should be compatible with KernelEx. But I recommend you install it first, then install KernelEx, just in case.

[rloew]

To rloew : the kernel32.dll hook is KernelEx compatible? And it is freeware or not?

Thanks in advance.

I41Mar

I have never used KernelEx, or examined it's interface, so I don't know if it is compatable.

It is not freeware. A Demo Version, for testing, is possible.

I am still working on it, but I have already Downloaded a Blu-Ray File larger than 4GiB and skipped around within it with Gomplayer.

@M()zart There is nothing to Download as I haven't finished testing.

@Dencorso This is a new Product. You were referring to my older Patch for KERNEL32.DLL.

[dencorso]

@Dencorso This is a new Product. You were referring to my older Patch for KERNEL32.DLL.

Oops! I think somehow I had missed your post #19, so I wasn't aware of it. In any case, to avoid confusion, please do give this new product a distinctive name, like FAT Size Limitation Surmounter, or something like it. Your freeware patch fixes a known bug in the filesystem implementation, while this new product you're talking about overcomes what is a filesystem limitation by design, so they're really very different things, if I got it right. However, even if it works well, this is bound to create a situation which is beyond the standard, and I confess I'm wary of such extensions... not to mention a special matching DOS driver would be needed, to allow correct access to those huge files from plain DOS, too.

[rloew]

@Dencorso This is a new Product. You were referring to my older Patch for KERNEL32.DLL.

Oops! I think somehow I had missed your post #19, so I wasn't aware of it. In any case, to avoid confusion, please do give this new product a distinctive name, like FAT Size Limitation Surmounter, or something like it. Your freeware patch fixes a known bug in the filesystem implementation, while this new product you're talking about overcomes what is a filesystem limitation by design, so they're really very different things, if I got it right. However, even if it works well, this is bound to create a situation which is beyond the standard, and I confess I'm wary of such extensions... not to mention a special matching DOS driver would be needed, to allow correct access to those huge files from plain DOS, too.

In my original Post, I was describing what it did. I have not yet chosen a Name for it as I have not released it yet.

It is not, and never will be, truly compatable with the existing standard. There will always be special considerations when using it. For this reason, I have coded the Hook to only function if the Files are contained within a Path containing a specific Keyword.

The current implementation would not be compatable with DOS.

So far, I have tested it with Azureus for Upload/Download and Gomplayer for Rendering.

[rloew]

@Dencorso This is a new Product. You were referring to my older Patch for KERNEL32.DLL.

Oops! I think somehow I had missed your post #19, so I wasn't aware of it. In any case, to avoid confusion, please do give this new product a distinctive name, like FAT Size Limitation Surmounter, or something like it. Your freeware patch fixes a known bug in the filesystem implementation, while this new product you're talking about overcomes what is a filesystem limitation by design, so they're really very different things, if I got it right. However, even if it works well, this is bound to create a situation which is beyond the standard, and I confess I'm wary of such extensions... not to mention a special matching DOS driver would be needed, to allow correct access to those huge files from plain DOS, too.

I will be releasing this Software soon. I have decided to call it the "Large File Emulator" Package.

It is now Windows Explorer compatable and works with 7-ZIP.

[dencorso]

Now, that's great news!

[rloew]

Now, that's great news!

I have posted the description on my Website.

I am preparing a Demo that can be used for testing.

[rloew]

A 5GiB Demo is now available for Download.

[rloew]

I fixed a bug in the Demo. Do not use the older one, it is not safe. Use the newer one. You can replace the DLLHOOK.INI while the System is running and then Reboot.