Winrar - Extracting Corrupt Files

[WhatAboutBob]

I recently downloaded an avi movie consisting of about 50 compressed rar files. 2 files near the end of the archive are incomplete. Is there any chance (or program) that will allow me to extract the remaining rar files? I am hoping to extract what I can to watch the movie - minus, of course, the 2 missing files (maybe 4-5 minutes worth of video).

Any help would be appreciated.

[ckin2001]

have you tried avipreview? it comes as a tool along with kazaalite now, as well as individually - and is pretty efficient.

[AZImmortal]

his problem's not that he has an incomplete avi, but he was dl'ing an avi compressed into multiple rar volumes, and the final two volumes are incomplete. i don't think there's anything u can do about extracting it, cuz it spans the entire set.

[ExpertTech]

WhatAboutBob, there is a way out. Here's how to get the data out of the - lets say 48 out of 50 archives... where 49 onwards is corrupt.

PROCEDURE 1: (Simpler)

1. Lets say Part 48 is corrupt . Delete it.
2. Start extraction from the 1st volume. As the volumes get extracted, a avi file will be created.
3. When extracting WinRAR will wait for you to supply the 48th file. Let it wait.
4. Go to explorer and make a copy of the avi file created in the folder.
5. Now you have a incomplete avi. If its a DivX file, use DivX fix, a utility to fix incomplete avis.

You now have the MuV till the 48th part.

PROCEDURE 2: (If 1 doesn't work)

1. Start extraction from the first part.
2. Immediately go to the folder where its is being extracted. You will see a .avi file being created.
3. As soon as RAR encounters the corrupt file, it may delete this 'temporary file' - so as soon as u know the corrupt archive part is about to be extracted (maybe a few minutes more), make a copy of it in Explorer. You need to be very agile in this step and it may take a few tries.
4. Now you have a incomplete avi. If its a DivX file, use DivX fix, a utility to fix incomplete avis.

One of this should work out - do let us know if there are any problems.

[ckin2001]

avipreview is a utility that extracts audio / video frames. if he is missing 2 files, then the problem seems to be extracting the first 48 without thte 2, and then viewing them. i have no idea about how the extract works - but there is probaby some kind of option to "not delete corrupt files" to make it extract what it can from an archive. i'd try and extract with all but the last 2 in the directory, and see what it says.

if you can get a file to work with, avipreview constructs a video feed out of whatever parts are present.

[WhatAboutBob]

Many thanks to all that responded to my question. To clarify matters - I first needed to extract a copy of the avi before I could use anything to try viewing it (ie. avipreview) which I managed to do, thanks to ExpertTech's suggestions. I did repair it with DivFix which worked like a charm. Incidentally, the only part I'm missing of the video is the very end (the credits) - so I really didn't miss any of it after all.

Thanks again everyone!

[Dee-ehn]

When opening an incomplete set in Winrar, be sure to check the "keep broken files" checkbox. Way easier than working with tempfiles etc...

[BeLGaRaTh]

Umm .. Dee-ehn beat me to it, just tick keep broken files Far Far easier

[ckin2001]

that might have been the option i was babbling about - kudos to dee ehn.

[Airhead]

I have a similar problem but a little different.
I have one RAR file which is complete, but for some reason it thinks it is a split archive, which it is not. Ticking "keep broken files" does not work, it still prompts me for the second volume.
Any ideas?

[_CyBeRwIz]

Something like this happened to me along these lines, but I finally extracted the file by extracting from the command prompt with special parameters. It is explained how in the WinRar help file.

[Airhead]

I tried WinRAR E -kb C:\archive.rar C: emp\ but it does the same thing as the shell version does... I want to stop it from asking me where the second file is...
I didnt find any switch for that.

[roadworker]

Maybe it will stop asking when you convert it to a zipfile....

[wintron]

have you tried isobuster ?

[_CyBeRwIz]

Originally posted by Airhead
I tried WinRAR E -kb C:\archive.rar C: emp\ but it does the same thing as the shell version does... I want to stop it from asking me where the second file is...
I didnt find any switch for that.

No, there is a special command to bypass errors like that. I will find it for you.

[Airhead]

Thanks for your efforts $CyBeRwIz$.
Isobuster can't open RAR files and WinRAR gives me the same error when I try to convert it.

[xtacydima]

@Airhead

How are you doing?
Have you tried VCDGear yet? It does a splendid job but I do not know how well it handles broken rar files. Its FREE!!! so why not give it a chance.

[Airhead]

I threw the file away and redownloaded it...

[_CyBeRwIz]

I found it. It's a file in the Winrar directory called 'unrar.exe'. It is a command line extracter that has options to 'force extract' a file.

Open the command prompt and navigate yourself to:
cd %programfiles%\winrar. This will put you in the Winrar folder. Now move the rar file into the root of your c: drive. Then at the command prompt type

unrar x c:\YourFile.rar /kb /v c:\files\

Hope this helps.

Sir Cyber:bigsmile:

[donedoknow]

erm...... i cant find ANYWHERE, a checkbox which says "keep broken files"