Support

Micellaneous Files (PAR, RAR, 001, etc.)

A number of members have written to us asking about these weird files in PictureView that have no previews. These miscellaneous files are generally the components of a larger file (typically a movie) that has been posted to a group in pieces and require one or more separate programs to assemble.

001 File Thumb PAR File Thumb RAR File Thumb

Novice users, if you come across files without a discernable thumbnail (like those in the example above) and feel that the process of downloading, repairing, and assembling these files is not worth the effort, please feel free to ignore them. All of the non-image, non-video files have been moved to the end of each day so they should not get in the way of your normal use of the service.

RAR Files

RAR (Roshal Archive) file is a file format similar to ZIP that can be used to archive files with or without compression and with or without encpryption. A particular file (e.g., a movie) or set of files (e.g., a collection of vacation pictures) can be saved as a single RAR file or broken up into a set of smaller RAR files for easier uploading and downloading. The RAR files available on PictureView are typically of the latter variety: a single large file like a movie broken up into a set of smaller RAR files. Once you have downloaded all of the RAR files for a particular movie, you will need to use a special program to assemble the RAR files.

If you are an advanced user on the Windows platform and you are interested in assembling RAR files, you can use the WinRAR utility. On the Macintosh platform you can use MacPAR deLuxe. For more information about RAR files, please see:

PAR Files

A PAR (Parity Archive) file is an error-correcting file format that can be used to repair damaged data files (e.g. RAR or 001 files), and, in some cases, even recreate a missing data file. PAR files are created for a specific set of data files (i.e., you cannot use PAR files created for Movie A to repair RAR files containing Movie B).

QuickPar is a free utility available for the Windows platform. On the Macintosh platform you can use MacPAR deLuxe. For more information about PAR and PAR2 files, please see:

Segmented Files (e.g., .001, .002, .003, etc.)

Segmented files represent another multi-part file format. The free HJ-Split can be used to assemble segmented, or 001 files (e.g., files ending in 001, 002, 003, etc.). On the Macintosh platform you can use Split & Concat.

A Short Example

Bob has a movie that he wants to post. He uses a program to break the movie up into a number of segmented files. During this process, he also creates a set of PAR files to go along with the segmented files since he is a nice guy. Next, he posts these files.

One day soon after Bob posted his files, you come across them, thinking the description is appealing. You first make sure that it looks like all the files are available to download (the Subject field in the text table below the thumbnails will typically list the total number of files in the set), and decide to download them. To make it easy on yourself you batch download all of segmented files and the accompanying PAR files as a single zip file (you can always use the List Mode option to display a longer text table, without thumbnails, to simplify the file selection process). After the zip file is downloaded, you unzip it into a folder (all of the segmented files and the accompanying PAR files must reside in the same folder).

Your next step is to check the integrity of the files you downloaded. Assuming you have already downloaded and installed the QuickPar program, you locate and double-click on one of the PAR files (if this is the first time you are runnning QuickPar you will need to tell Windows which program to use to open PAR files). The QuickPar program will run and provide one of three possible results: repair not needed (in which case you can exit the program), ready to recover using XXX/YYY recovery blocks (in which case you can click on the now active Repair button), or need XXX more blocks (in which case you don't have enough of the files in the set to create the movie). We'll assume that one of the first two possibilities occurred.

After exiting QuickPar, you launch the HJ-Split program (which you have already downloaded and installed). Since you plan to assemble the segmented files into a movie, you click on the Join button. The File Join dialog window appears and you click on the Input File button. Using the dialog window that appears you locate and open the folder containing the segmented files, single-click on the file ending in .001, and then click the Open button, returning you to the File Join dialog. You click on the Start button to join the segmented files and thus create the movie that Bob uploaded in pieces. Once the joining is complete, you exit out of HJ-Split.

Before you watch the movie, you decide to delete all of the files you downloaded but are no longer needed (i.e., the zip file, the segmented files, and the PAR files). House-keeping done, you sit back and enjoy the movie.

We are recommending these utilities because we have used them successfully; however, you must contact the appropriate manufacturer
for support downloading, installing, and using any of the these utilities.

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