For MAC Users, Problem Solver

I cannot take any credit for the following MAC related information. Not really. To tell the truth it is taken from about three sources but I am responsible for putting it all here so that you might have success in opening the files I put on the blog.

What follows is a collection of Mac related help concerning RAR files etc.

FOR RAR FILES (and other Archive type files too)

Rar files: Those files that have the name like FILENAME.rar
These are the most likely filetypw you will download as this is what I prefer to use for packing or splitting albums.
As far as those 'FILENAME.r01, FILENAME.r02, etc' files they are the old naming system used by WinRAR. (I usually use the new naming system for split rar files.. so it is like: FILENAME.Part1.rar, FILENAME.Part2.rar, etc).

Short history lesson.
All file sharing comes from newsgroups. Different newsgroups servers have different limits on file size but let's just say the limit is 10mb. WinRar's best function is not compression but archiving, and splitting large archives into 'post-able to newsgroup' sizes. Thus a 500 mb file can be split into 10 mb chunks all of which have an ending like this .r01 .r02 etc. This is just fine up until a 1Gb file comes along and you end up with .r01-r99 and then all heck breaks loose. (Actually it doesn't but the file name conventions get a bit unconventional). To allow a more conventional file naming convention, WinRar is trying to get everyone to use -part1.rar, -part2.rar etc file names. As the number of bits in the archive increases the -partXXX.rar part just counts up.

The new file naming convention also allows a standard file extension of .rar. But not all computers can handle long file names (longer than the DOS standard 8.3), and so the new file naming systems is not necessarily catching on so fast.

As I stated though, I will always use the new naming so no need to worry about that! - HitMeWithIt

The important thing for Mac People to note is that there are two conventions in the old style naming system. The first part of the archive can either be named filename.r00 OR filename.rar. Find .rar (if not .rar find .r00) drop in into MacParDeluxe and it will reassemble the (probably) huge file. Make sure you have disk space free, start it running and, as they say, go get a cup of coffee. With big files, the reassembly will take a while.

MacParDeluxe free download/nagware
easiest to use make sure all the segments are in the folder and drop
one or all onto the program, ( I suggest putting it in the dock) Both
links OK.
Here
or
Here


UnRarX free download/ freeware
When you unRar a file you must first enter the password in its interface. This is not the prettiest but you need it.
Download Here
Or
Here


For both MacParDeluxe and UnRarX, there are cases where one will work and the other one won't.

------------------------
In general, Stuffit Expander should be your last resort, but it is as far as I know the only way on the mac to unpack password protected zip files.
The built-in mac unzipper will fail on password protected zip files.

Stuffit expander will also routinely report that archives are corrupt and/or passwords are wrong on many RARs(this is usually incorrect!).


FOR OTHER ARCHIVE FILES
If you run into .ace files - Sometimes, if they are in a set, they will be named thus: FILENAME.ace, FILENAME.c00, FILENAME.c01, FILENAME.c02, etc.
Use the following.
UnAceX
Download Here

For Oddball stuff like self extracting zips, which have a .exe on the
end, there is File Juicer
Download Here


FOR PLAYING THE MUSIC FILES!
VLC Player will play any Audio format .wma, .ogg, m4a, .mpga, mp3 etc.
VLC- Freeware
But no useful library functions and no burning functions.

AUDION 3 (now FREEWARE!!)
This program is amazing!!! Far too many functions for me to list here but you really ought to download this for yourself. It can play all of your MP3 files, edit them, tag them, play streaming radio, Burn to CD, Rip CDs and a whole lot more. As it's no longer being developed they give you the serial number for free on the site. Make sure you get it!
Download Here
Link to the serial number on Audion Site also.

Playing OGG files..Itunes/ QuickTime
If you have a few OGG format files then you will discover that a MAC doesn't like them. Fix that by reading this
and
Downloading This
You might just want to convert them - which you can do in QT, (save as file..), although transcoding lossy formats is a BAD IDEA. Google search and find out why!



FOR DOWNLOADING THE FILES
You have to download Firefox for megaupload and some other sites.

And for god's sakes after you install firefox, find the setting that
allows firefox to install programs and turn it off.

An easy download manager is iCab, which is also a great general Internet tool. It is also a fully-fledged browser but was written to adhere to the very strictest web standards, and since most sites ignore standards, it does not properly render most sites. This is also a great tool to download sites and connect to ftp servers. I cannot recommend this browser enough as an outstanding Internet tool; it just doesn't work particularly well as a browser.
A note of warning on iCab. For whatever reason (it's a Carbon application), it truncates file names to the old 26(?) character limit. On certain downloads, this means the -part1.rar, -part2.rar etc. on the end get lost and you will have trouble to unRar the archives.
Life comes with such disappointments !
---------------------------
---------------------------
Like I said, not written by me. Hope you got help from it!
Plus I should add, if you have any problems that are not solved by this article, Mac related oif course, then please leave a comment here and maybe other Mac users can rely and help you out. Unfortunately I won't be able to. A Mac?
What's that then?
:)



Link Back To Main Site.