Thread: Split Rars. Why I hate them. Why I like them. Why do we still use them?

Split rars, or any archive for that matter anger me most of the time. I like them sometimes... but for non-scene releases I cannot stand them.
For scene releases I like them because I can download from more than one tracker at the same time, then seed to all of them at the same time. It's a good way to boost ratio, maybe I'll post a tutorial if one isn't already up. Other than that I cannot stand them.
Here are some of my opinions, and if you have something to add I would really appreciate it... whether you agree or disagree.
I tend to seed things longer that I can just use and leave in my seeding folder, like if I want to watch a video file I can do that without extracting then deleting the file after to save space. To keep these files in the folder takes up far too much room. Who uses FAT still? File size shouldn't be a worry. Torrents break chunks anyway... and do so better than an archive program. Sure, you save a few MB per torrent with a RAR but is it really worth it? What am I missing that it seems all trackers know? Why is this still done? It seems like it's an old method which is done simply because "that's just what you do" or maybe to make releases seem more "professional" like scene releases. Does anyone know?

Split RARs/archives are the best way to handle large file sizes. If one RAR gets corrupt in any way, all you have to replace is that one RAR. If you download an entire BluRay 1080p rip at upwards of 12GBs in a single file, and THAT gets corrupted... i think you see my point.

But, doesn't bittorrent handle corruption of chunks?

some good points put forward, and i feel exactly the same....

i do think that splitting a file into rars, is a more efficient ways or dealing with a possible corrupt file.... (not sure though)

i see your point about saving little to no space. but not everybody has high bandwidth and cannot download, people love it especially when they can get their games from high compression downloads. for example, we all know and love the full game rips done by skullptura. he cuts the original file size down to almost half AND its the full game, its these releases that people prefer over non-compressed files, sure there is quite a bit of wait time to uncompress but it is worth saving the bandwidth as i personally only have 6GB to download/upload *cry* so torrents are a nightmare for me. also there is the issue of security, most if not all compression methods allow for password protection/encryption which is very hard to crack and is perfect for sensitive files which is good if people only want certain people to have the file and for it not to be leaked.

P.S sorry for any spelling/grammar/punctuation errors in this wall of text =]

You make valid points about security and bandwidth issues. I guess I'll quit bitching and go make food while my movie unrars and takes up double the space on my harddrive because I am still seeding the rars.

I guess I'll quit bitching and go make food while my movie unrars and takes up double the space on my harddrive because I am still seeding the rars.

HAHHAH. So bitter lol.
I agree. It effin sucks!
My workaround? Seedbox.
Enough said.

Someone want to explain the difference between a split rar and a normal rar for us limited folks?

Ok Jenna, I hope this doesn't exceed your range of thought.
I'll try and go slow, for you limited folks.
JayKAY haha.
Well really split rars are just normal archived rar files that are broken down into allocated chunks.
Which are all read simultaneously when one of the .r00 files are opened.

I really think this practice should be stopped although i do see the benefits.