Any of You guys Newsgroup Junkies? I can't get anything to recognize a PAR2 parity file.

[magomago]

Hey guys. I need some help if possible. I got FMP Fumoffu (Full Metal Panic Fumoffu) from a newgroup. This is an anime is Japan that isn't released in the USA - actually the second episode hasn't aired (I'm talkin about the first)


Now File #23 part 23 is missing so I remembered I might be able to reconstruct it using the parity, right? So I went and downloaded BOTH FSRaid and SmartPar and I can't get the programs to recognize the PAR files (saved as .PAR2). The programs are looking for .PAR, .P01, .P02, .PXX basically...so I decide to change the extension to "all files" so I could select the Par2 files but then it says the files are incorrect.

Am I missing something in the process? Here are what the part files are named:

Full Metal Panic [Fumoffu] Episode 01 (640x480 WMV9).PAR2
Full Metal Panic [Fumoffu] Episode 01 (640x480 WMV9).vol00+01.PAR2
Full Metal Panic [Fumoffu] Episode 01 (640x480 WMV9).vol01+02.PAR2
Full Metal Panic [Fumoffu] Episode 01 (640x480 WMV9).vol03+04.PAR2
Full Metal Panic [Fumoffu] Episode 01 (640x480 WMV9).vol07+08.PAR2
Full Metal Panic [Fumoffu] Episode 01 (640x480 WMV9).vol15+14.PAR2


And I am positive I got all the files (23 rars, + 1 sfv + the PAR files right that are listed here)

Can anyone help me out? I'd REALLY appreciate it since I'm a 56k and I have to wwait forever for this to download

Thank you VERY Much

 

[AznMaverick]

did you try using "smartpar"?

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: AznMaverick
did you try using "smartpar"?

So I went and downloaded BOTH FSRaid and SmartPar and I can't get the programs to recognize the PAR files (saved as .PAR2

 

[Msatan666]

They are PAR 2.0 files. Read about them Here.
Download a Par 2.0 program called QuickPar Here

 

[AznMaverick]

oops meant to say quick par. par2 files aren't as great as .par files imo.

 

[magomago]

Thanks for the link- though I googled more with a different phrase and I hit it about 5 minutes earlier.


As for PAr2 being not as good as Par I disagree.

I read the FAQ and FMP was 230 Megs- my PAR2 files totaled about 32 megabytes. If they were PAR files they would total close to the same size...

 

[Kelemvor]

No, PAR files are as big or small as the perosn creating them wants them to be. THe more PAR files there are the more RAR files could be missing and still work. But since most people only end up missing 1 or 2 RAR files, the PAR files don't have to be very large at all. I have a program that is 34 RAR files at 15 megs a piece (486 megs per Windows Explorer). I created the PARs and it created 5 at 15 Megs a piece (57 megs per Windows Explorer).

So that's about 12% of the total size.

In your example, 230 Megs and 32 Megs, that's about 14%. So not much difference. But PARs are far and away the standard. No idea why some people use Par2...

 

[AznMaverick]

i've had 3 instances where par2 files were used instead of par. at first, it seemed to repair alright, however when i tried to extract in winrar there were three files that were corrupted. i even tried to scan and repair again, par2 files never even found and error while par files work all the time. i have to agree with you though, par files are huge, but the failure rate for me is what's more important.

 

[Mday]

both are used to repair or create a missing a file. however, par2 is really repairing by building blocks, while par can only regenerate a file.

par2 can repair a corrupt file, however, it requires the beginning of the file to be intact, that is, if you have the first third and the last third, in effect, you have a third of the file as far as par2 goes. this is its weakness. many usenet postings can have missing beginning, middle and end. its strength is that if you are missing parts of files, you only need so many blocks. less to download. with enough blocks, you can restore an entire file.

par requires a download larger than the largest file in the library. each p## file is the same size, however many is up to the creator. this can be thought of how RAID 5 works in restoring. par comes in very handy when you are missing files without having to go through the parsing of the par. if you are missing one file, you KNOW you have to download one file. this comes in handy when queuing in usenet.

comparing par to par2, par is more convenient if you have multiple missing files. par2 is more convenient if you have corrupt files which still have the beginning intact. however, par2 is really repairing by building blocks, while par can only regenerate a file.