Free file splitter, how to use file splitting utility (original) (raw)

What is file spanning

Splitting a file is cutting the data in span parts of desired size.
Usually, this allows a large file to fit on multiple smaller supports (FD, CD, DVD...) or to fit in multiple email attachments (or upload chunks) if the file is larger than maximum allowed attachment or upload size.
In PeaZip you can select the volume size form a series of pre-set sizes (floppy disk, typical mail attachment maximum size, CD, DVD...) or you can customize it up to byte level.

More online resources: split Unix command unix split files on Wikipedia, entropy definition information theory compression on Wikipedia, discussion of e-mail attachment limit maximum email size allowed

How to split files with PeaZip

PeaZip offers different, alternative ways to split & join files, or directly create a spanned archive set:

	Add files and folders to the archive's layout (i.e. select it and click Add button), then Click volume size dropdown menu (by default set on "Single volume, do not split") in order to split the output to multiple volumes, chosing from custom or pre-set sizes (recommended email attachment sizes, CD, DVD, etc): this method allows to combine the benefits of archiving (consolidating multile input files & folders into a single output stream), compression (reducing disk occupation eliminating data redundancy), and file spanning (keeping the output in volumes smaller than a given maximum size). Alternatively, change archive type option (below output path option) to "Split" and set volume size and optional integrity check algorithm. OR
	Open PeaZip, chose File manage > File Tools > "Split file" or "Join files" from main menu and provide the input file name (provide the first volume of the set, usually the file with .001 extension for merging back spanned archives). OR
	From Windows desktop or file explorer you can rightclick on a file and chose to split it from PeaZip's entry in system SendTo or Context menu.

Add files and folders to the archive's layout (i.e. select it and click Add button), then Click volume size dropdown menu (by default set on "Single volume, do not split") in order to split the output to multiple volumes, chosing from custom or pre-set sizes (recommended email attachment sizes, CD, DVD, etc): this method allows to combine the benefits of archiving (consolidating multile input files & folders into a single output stream), compression (reducing disk occupation eliminating data redundancy), and file spanning (keeping the output in volumes smaller than a given maximum size). Alternatively, change archive type option (below output path option) to "Split" and set volume size and optional integrity check algorithm. OR

Open PeaZip, chose File manage > File Tools > "Split file" or "Join files" from main menu and provide the input file name (provide the first volume of the set, usually the file with .001 extension for merging back spanned archives). OR

From Windows desktop or file explorer you can rightclick on a file and chose to split it from PeaZip's entry in system SendTo or Context menu.

If you are splitting a file into multiple removable media, PeaZip will check if the media has enough free space for storing the volumes, and will be asked you to provide a new empty media each time the previous one is full.

Hint: if you need to create a spanned archive with volumes of different sizes, it is possible to proceed as described above, and then specify multiple volume sizes in the "Console" tab of the archive creation screen - then press "Launch task" to execute.
The -v parameter in the script specifies the volume size as a number followed by multiplier: k for kilobytes, m for megabbytes, g for gigabytes, t for terabytes; i.e. -v2g will split each volume at 2 GB in size.
Adding multiple -v parameters with different sizes, i.e. -v1g -v500m -v2g, will split the archive in multiple different volume sizes as specified, in the exact order, with last size being applied to any extra volume.
In the previous example first volume will be 1 GB in size, second volume 500 MB, third and any following volume will be 2 GB.

Limitations of file spanning

Purely splitting a file does not involve compression, that is usually only marginally efficient on multimedia files, like ie. MP3, OGG and other audio formats, or AVI, MPEG, DIVX and other video formats.
As said above, if you prefer to combine splitting with compression, you can add the file(s) to a ZIP or 7Z archive and chose to split (cut) the archive in volumes of a fixed size, in order to keep them below the size limits of a support or mail attachment: this is preferable also when handling multiple large multimedia files in order to store them in a single archive, split in fixed sized volumes, rather than having to split each file separately.
In this case you can set minimum compression or no compression ("store" level) to speed up the process avoiding to compress scarcely compressible data: hints how to improve file compression, how to reduce size of graphic files.

How to join (merge) split file volumes

Merge files with PeaZip

PeaZip fully supports, for splitting and merging, raw split format - binary data plainly cut in pieces of the exact specified size - that can be created, also, by utilities like 7-Zip/p7zip, HJSplit, and "split" Unix command.
This merge files process will re-build the original, larger, file or archive from multiple smaller volumes fitting a mandatory maximum size.
Copying all parts of the archive in the same folder is required by PeaZip to be able to merge a split file.

Hint: if sent data is correctly received, as role of thumb, all volumes of the spanned set should have same size - matching the desired size limit - save the last volume that will usually be smaller containing only the remaining data to complete the content - but if a real error detection control is needed to validate integrity of received data, use file hasing (or checksum) to verify volumes.

PeaZip can process, only for merging, WinZip spanned archives (.Z01) and WinRar spanned archives (.R01, or .partX.rar).

	When you receive a multipart file or archive, to join the data back to obtain the original file, move or copy all the parts of the file in the same folder before proceeding with extraction
	To merge spanned volumes, open the first archive's part with PeaZip, i.e. doubleclick on the first volume wich is usually identified with extension .001, .Z01, R01, .PART1 or similar - please note some times counter may have set to start from 000 (R00, Z00) instead.Now you can extract it with "Extract" or "Extract all" from PeaZip's tool bar or context menu, or just drag content from PeaZip to the systemAlternatively, righclick on the first volume of the spanned file and use "Extract" or "Extract here" PeaZip's entries in system's context menu

When you receive a multipart file or archive, to join the data back to obtain the original file, move or copy all the parts of the file in the same folder before proceeding with extraction

To merge spanned volumes, open the first archive's part with PeaZip, i.e. doubleclick on the first volume wich is usually identified with extension .001, .Z01, R01, .PART1 or similar - please note some times counter may have set to start from 000 (R00, Z00) instead.Now you can extract it with "Extract" or "Extract all" from PeaZip's tool bar or context menu, or just drag content from PeaZip to the systemAlternatively, righclick on the first volume of the spanned file and use "Extract" or "Extract here" PeaZip's entries in system's context menu

Read more about how to create spanned 7z archives, how to open and extract multi-volume rar files, and how to manage spanned zip files (or how to split and merge zipx files).

Synopsis: Free file spanning software (file splitter utility). How to split files and email attachments in multiple smaller parts, merge / join spanned volumes chunks with PeaZip, Open Source file splitting application for Linux and Windows.

Topics: how to split files, how to join split files, merge spanned archives

PeaZip > FAQ > Free file splitter, how to use file splitting utility