I'm not sure I get this PAR thing yet ....
Alright, let's say you're downloading a game demo, and its got 4 parts:
game.RAR
game.R00
game.R01
game.R02
Now we know from before that this is a multi-set RAR archive, easily extracted with WinRAR.
But ... let's say that game.R00 is MISSING. You've checked the newsgroup server for days, and the part isn't there. Oh, and EasyNews doesn't have it either.
BUT ... on the server, there is a game.P01 file. That is a full PAR file (the file with .PAR is just an index file - its not something that can be used to rebuild). If you download that, you now have 1 PAR file for 1 missing RAR. YOU CAN FIX THIS. If you are missing TWO files, you will need 2 PAR files, etc.
You download that P01 file, and open it with FSRaid or QuickPAR. It will check the files, be sure eveything is good, and you can then REPAIR the missing file. After a few minutes (sometimes PAR recoveries can take hours), the file will be rebuilt.
PFM ... if you are a tech head and just HAVE to understand it, search google for "parity file". That should help you understand.
Bottom line is; missing files? File damaged? GET THE PAR FILES to replace them.
Alright .. got that ... what about PAR2? Why are they confusing me?
PAR2 works almost the same way. This method can actually repair PARTS of files that are missing using even LESS than before. That doesn't make much sense does it ...?
Let's look at a demo ... Let's look at the game files above:
game.RAR (10MB)
game.R00 (10MB)
game.R01 (10MB)
game.R02 (10MB)
Each RAR must be 10MB in size for the files to be complete.
Sometimes, not ALL of the file will get uploaded right. Or, your newsgroup provider may not get the whole thing. You might end up with something like this:
game.RAR (8.7MB)
game.R00 (9MB)
game.R01 (10MB)
game.R02 (8.9MB)
Now, even though it LOOKS like you have all the files, the files are not complete - hence, DAMAGED. You can do NOTHING with these.
Or can you ...?
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