Creating Multi-Volume RAR Files

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This section provides a tutorial example on how to create a multi-volume RAR file using WinRAR to break a large RAR file into multiple smaller files.

If you have large files or directories, WinRAR will normally create a single large RAR file, which is not convenient for storing it on diskette or send it as an email. In this case, you should use WinRAR's multi-volume RAR file option.

Suppose that I have a sample music file, my_music.mp3. Its file size is 4713 KB. Here are the steps to archive it to a multi-volume RAR file:

1. Run WinRAR and navigate the directory where my_music.mp3 is stored.

2. Select my_music and select menu "Commands" > "Add files to archive". The "Archive name and parameters" dialog box shows up.

3. Click the "Profiles" button. A dropdown list shows up.

4. Select the "Create 1.44MB volumes" option. Notice the following fields are changed immediately:

• Compression method: Best
• Split volumes, bytes: 1,457,664
• Create solid archive: checked
• Put recover record: checked

5. Enter c:\temp\my_music.rar in the "Archive name" field and click the OK button. my_music.pm3 will be archived into 4 files:

   1,457,664 my_music.part1.rar
   1,457,664 my_music.part2.rar
   1,457,664 my_music.part3.rar
     423,474 my_music.part4.rar

This is perfect. Now I can copy these files to 4 diskettes, or email them to a friend, who has a small mail box, one at a time.

Extracting files out of a multi-volume RAR file is easy. Here are the key steps:

1. Make sure that all volumes, *.part1.rar, *.part2.rar, ..., are in the same directory.

2. Run WinRAR and perform the extract process on any of the volumes, WinRAR knows how to extract files from all the related volumes.

Sections in This Chapter

What Is WinRAR?

Downloading and Installing WinRAR 3.42

Adding Files to a New RAR File

Extracting All Files from a RAR File

Setting Passwords in RAR Files

Creating Multi-Volume RAR Files

Setting Windows Explorer Context Menu

Compressing Files with ZIP Format

Running WinRAR in a Command Line Window