Winrar - Testing Archive Files

Actually, we can test the download archive file and make sure it is not corrupted right after the download process finished. I've always done this before proceed to the next archive file. If the first part is corrupted, then I'll stop proceeding to download the next part since my internet is limited. If you're using streamyx with unlimited usage, then you should have no problem to download all of it.

How to test the archive file? Refer the image below:

In the red box, you can see the 'Extract To' and 'Test' button. Just click the 'Test' button and Winrar will test the archive file. If you have complete part of archive files then it will tell you if there is an error of certain part. You will know which part is corrupted. If there is no error, then it will tell you 'No error found during test operation', like in this screenshot:

But if your archive file is corrupted, then you'll receive some error message, just like in my older post about corrupted files. Winrar will tell you which part is corrupted.

If you don't have complete set of archive files you still can test the files but you will get a pop up message asking to browse for the file. Take a look at this screenshot:

Note that if one of your archive file has different spelling then this message will appear too. You can browse for the file and it'll continue testing. This method also work for extracting.

If you haven't download the next part you can click 'cancel' and this message will appear:

The message just said that the file is corrupted but it didn't tell us which part. If you get this message, then you'll have no problem to extract the file. But this is still not completed. You may get an error file for the next part because you still didn't test the complete set of archive file. You may continue downloading the next part and tested it again until you've complete all part of it.

Like I've said before, I always tested the file after I've completed the first part. And if the first part is corrupted, then I won't download the next part. But if no errors found, then I'll continue downloading the next part. After downloading the second part is completed, then I'll test it again. At this time, no matter if there is an error or not, I'll continue download all part of it until complete. And then I'll use the 'Keep Broken File' method to extract the file. If the file isn't working, I'll have to delete all of them. No use to keep the broken file. But if I have unlimited usage of bandwidth, no need to test the archive file. Just download all part of it and I won't lose a thing.

Winrar - Corrupted Archive Files

If you still remember, I've mentioned something about a problem related to Mediafire filehosting. It is about corrupted file. Mediafire currently has this problem, archive files downloaded from this site tend to corrupt during the download process. But sometime if you're downloading from other filehosting, you still face this problem. If this thing happened, then you'll have some trouble to extract the file.

Normally, when this thing happened, not all 8 parts of the archive files are corrupt. Maybe 1 or 2 parts only. How do you identify the corrupted parts? When you're extracting the archive files, an error message will pop up if one or more file is corrupted. Refer this image.

If there are 2 parts corrupted, then you'll get three error messages. The error messages will tell you which part is corrupted, in this case part 1 and part 6 (refer the screenshot). The third message will appear after the extracting process is completed. If you're extracting and the error messages appear, no file will be extracted into your hard disk, and you can't watch the movie.

How to overcome this? If you've identified the corrupted parts, you can try to download it again. Sometimes the files is corrupted while the download process. So you need to re-download it and try to extract it again. Maybe this will help. But if re-download didn't solve the problem, then you have to do the other step to overcome corrupted file.

First, open the part 1 archive file and select 'extract to'. Before you select the destination folder, tick the 'keep broken file' box. Refer this image:

After that, select your folder and proceed with the extraction process. You'll get the movie file and you can try to watch it. There's no way to identify whether the movie file is working or not, unless by trying.

I can't guarantee this method will overcome the corrupted file problem, but most of the time it'll work. Its worth for a try since you've already download all parts of it.

Winrar - How To Extract Part 2

If you're using Windows Vista and facing the same problem with my friend, then you have to extract using this method. The previous method is easier but this one is not hard either. Just follow this step but the archive file name should be exactly the same except the sequence number.

First, double click the part 1 file (or open it using winrar). The winrar interface will appear, just like this screenshot.

Note that the red box on top of the winrar interface. Just click the 'extract to' button to extract the file. A new window will appear, like in the screenshot below.

Next step is to select where do you want to extract the file. Just select your desired folder and click ok. The extraction process will start. (If the archive file is password protected then it'll prompt for a password, just key in the correct password and click ok. After that, the extraction process will start). Wait for the extraction process to finish, after that you'll find the movie file in your selected folder, and you can delete all the archive files. You should able to play the file using your player and enjoy your movie.

Winrar - How To Extract Part 1

In my previous post, I've mentioned about file size limit for some filehosting, such as 100 MB for Mediafire. It's hardly to find any movies with size smaller than 100 MB. So how can people upload movies to this site? Normally, people will split the movies into several files, using certain software. In this post I'll explain about a software called Winrar. And of course you have to installed it in your PC before you can use it. This is also not a freeware but you can find it in the net, complete with the crack/keygen if you don't want to pay for it.

Lets say a 700 MB movie file, we can split the movie into 7-8 part with about 100 MB each. Actually, each file will be slightly less than 100 MB, about 95 - 98 MB so that the result will be 8 part of files.

If you find these kind of links than you'll have to download all parts of it. Lets say a 700 MB movie file, it has been split into 8 parts, called archive file. So you have to download all 8 parts of it. Normally in a forum people will post complete set of the movie, in this case 8 parts of it, and sometime with the password. This image below shows the example of a movie split into 8 parts.

In the picture, you can see that the first 7 parts of it have the same size. Only the last part has the different size. You can double click the archive file to see the movie file. Refer this image.

Basically you can double click the movie file in the winrar interface, and winrar will extract it. After the extraction is completed, you can watch the movie. But you'll have to do this again if you want to watch the movie another time. It's better to extract it permanently, means you'll have the movie file instead of 8 different parts of it.

To extract the file is very easy. First, make sure the file name for all parts of it is the same, no different even for a single character. Then just right click the part 1 file and then select 'extract here'. It'll ask for the password if the uploader create a password for a protection. Refer the image below.

In this tutorial, there is no password so it'll extract it right away. After that, just wait until the extraction process is completed. This is the screenshot for the extraction process.

You can see the movie file already being extracted in the same folder. And when the process is completed, you'll have the working movie file, just like in this screenshot:

Note that the working movie file size is the same with the total size of those 8 parts of the archive file. You can play the movie by simply open the file, just like a normal movie file. And you can delete all 8 parts of archive files to save some space in your disk. No need to keep that archive files since you already have the movie file.

This is the easiest step for extracting using winrar. But my friend has a problem with this method because he's using Windows Vista as his OS. I haven't found any problem if you're using Windows XP. If you're using Vista and facing this problem too, I'll share another method with you in the next post.