What are .PAR file?

[jthornt181]

Hi all! I have a set of .rar files (1-18) and with those rar files are a set of .par files (1-4). Ive been unpacking rar files with no problem now, but this is the first time ive seen these .par files. Can anyone help me with these? Im not sure what they do. Thank you!

[Cpt_Obvious]

Arrrr...Anything posted with rar, r01 (etc), or even part01 are winrar files. The pars are created from the completed rar set. Easy way to see how they work is this...

You want to download say a backup from the dvdiso group and the game is 10 files... rar and then r01-r09. There are also 3 par files... par and p01 and p02. You notice that only 9 of the rar files are there and you're missing r08. You would use a program (smartpar/mirror) and open the par file. The par file will look to the rar set and say ok, you have 9 out of 10 files and you have 2 p* files, so you are missing ffx.r08, but I can replace it using one of my p* files. So it would then create the missing file(s) using the parity information. This works out nicely too if you spend time downloading a game and then find out that one or two of the files
are corrupted. Just delete them and you can recreate them from the pars.

Arrrrr...tis not me own words, but a good shipmate of mine where this information comes from...so it does.

[HiProfile]

*.PAR [and acompanying *.P## files] are the best thing to happen to less-than-perfect data storage. A typical par set consists of a tiny par file [like a super-sfv] and the big p## files. Each big p## file also has the par section in it, its just faster-starting with the tiny file. The big par files can reproduce data files exactly when you have the same amount of pars & rars as the original rar set. They are esentially wild cards. The best thing about par files is that they are basicly a huge checksum [to an extent] of the files, of which isn't copyrighted material. Its like having the correct weight of mass for a nuclear bomb, except all in the form of iron.

I prefer FSRaid.exe btw.

[SledDog]

As HiProfile mentions, FSRaid is probably THEE best Par program around.

You can find it at: http://www.fluidstudios.com/fsraid.html

Along with a summary explaination at the bottom of the page of what Pars file do.

[SledDog]

As HiProfile mentions, FSRaid is probably THEE best Par program around.

You can find it at: http://www.fluidstudios.com/fsraid.html

Along with a summary explaination at the bottom of the page of what Pars file do.

[SledDog]

As HiProfile mentions, FSRaid is probably THEE best Par program around.

You can find it at: http://www.fluidstudios.com/fsraid.html along with a summary explaination at the bottom of the page of what Pars file do.

[ThAD0oD]

whoah, triple post!


cool, i didnt know thats what those pars were for, i just stopped downloadin em eventually, good to know

[SledDog]

Oops! The server musta momentarily gorked out there, as I only posted once...

[jthornt181]

Thanks for the info guys