Splitting large files?

[ph28205]

I am hoping someone can help me. I have an 80 GB hdd that seems to be fried. I Had a factory install of XP (Compaq) The only thing it came with was a "Recovery CD" which just rewrites the drive to the way it was when we got the computer. I have decided that I am no longer going to be treated like a thief by M$ (not recieving a disk with a $2600.00 USD comp, but I also have about 8 irreplaceable (DV) files which are around 800 MB to 1.5 GB. Is there a program on knoppix to split these files to 700 MB chunks so I can burn them to disk. I really don't have the money for a new drive.
Thank you.

[Markus]

You can use the commands split and cat for this.
split -b 725000000 filename (makes <700 MB chunks called xaa, xab and so on).
After burning and backuping you can parse it together with:
cat xab >> xaa (which puts xab after xaa, takes a while to run)
cat xac >> xaa (if the file was bigger than 1,4GB, do this after xab)
mv xaa orig_filename (to get back the original filename)
rm xab xac (delete the now unnecessary files after checking that the orig. file is ok)

Better test this before you delete anything if the files are really that important to you.
Note: You need to burn the xaa, xab,.. files before doing another file, alternatively rename them because the next run with split would make new files and overwrite previous ones.

[el_supremo]

As an addendum to what Markus said, to see the docs for the split command type the command

man split

and I think you would find that it would be a bit easier for you if you use a command of the form:

split -b 680m filename filename

which will split the file"filename" into pieces of at most 680 megabytes (to fit on a CD) but will also name the pieces filenameaa, filenameab, filenameac etc. This way you will know where the pieces came from without having to rename the files.

[edit] You must of course make sure that there is enough room on your drive to hold the additional split files. e.g. splitting a 1.3GB file requires at least 1.3GB free space.

Best Wishes
Pete

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[Markus]

You live some, you learn some. Thanks Pete.

[ph28205]

I am not any good with command line. I have been using M$. since the eighties. I can not even figure out how to get out of the root directory using the command line.
Thank you for such a prompt response.

[Markus]

Wish I knew of a GUI for this but I don't
From the 80's you must know DOS, so here's some command equivalents:
http://www.control-escape.com/linux/lx-translate.html

Not sure what you mean by "how to get out of the root directory".
cd / ,gets you to the root directory (same as c:\ )
cd ,gets you to your home directory
su ,makes you root (administrator), exit with ctrl-d
cd ,as root (admin) gets you to the roots home directory

[OErjan]

cd .. moves you up one level in the file tree
cd /home/knoppix moves you to the /home/knoppix folder
cd /any/path/you/have/ moves you there (if you ave permisions that is).
ls lists the files.
ls -l gives a long list of the files in that directory.
ls -al gives a long list of the files in that directory + shows hidden files
keep asking, best way to learn.
for you it might feel odd that the most powerful tools in linux/unix are on the comandline, sad but true.

[ph28205]

I was making the slash in the wrong direction, and I was using the root shell
I was trying direct dos commands and was not going where I wanted.
thank you again I just use konquer and go to where I want then open the shell and I am done.
thanks.....

I still can't get ntfs captive to work... any nt I also just found out my disk does not match the md5 so i am going to try again.

[mzilikazi]

I was making the slash in the wrong direction,

Well that's easy. Just remember that Windows is backwards.
(pun fully intended).

I still can't get ntfs captive to work... any nt I also just found out my disk does not match the md5 so i am going to try again.

Now I have never used captive but I do know that the NTFS kernel driver is not very good. Maybe this helps:
http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/

[mzilikazi]

I was making the slash in the wrong direction,

Well that's easy. Just remember that Windows is backwards.
(pun fully intended). It think you'll find that the cli under *nix is far more capable and easy to use than DOS.

I still can't get ntfs captive to work... any nt I also just found out my disk does not match the md5 so i am going to try again.

Please be sure NOT to use IE to download any .iso images. Use getright or other download manager that supports resuming.
Now I have never used captive but I do know that the NTFS kernel driver is not very good. Maybe this helps:
http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/