How to Decompress .RAR file >4GB on Fat formatted Windows or Mac OS X?

Question

I have downloaded a .Rar file that is about 1.6GB but when I want to decompress it on my Mac with stuffit I always get an error with no details and my Windows partition is fat formatted so it can't handle the 4.6GB file that I wish to extract.
Without reinstalling Windows on a NTSF formatted partition what can I do to extract the file.

Answer 1

Yahoo Answers has been down for some type of "Total Makeover" and now it is up but running very slowly. That's why you haven't gotten much response to your question.

You forgot to mention WHICH version of OS X?



Don't mess with trying to use a DVD archive file on a FAT partition. Copy it to the OS X partition.



StuffIt is not the default application (after OS 10.2.8) for expanding a RAR file. Use the built-in Archive Utility in OS 10.5 or 10.6. Use the built-in BOMArchiveHelper in OS 10.3 or 10.4. Other good options are Unarchiver, UnRarX, and Zipeg. Search online for these. I remember using StuffIt Expander from OS 7.6 until OS 10.2.8 and we often shouted its name when it failed: "Oh, stuff it!" In those days, RAR files were rare (haha!), but we used StuffIt for those .sit files for which it was specifically designed. Nowadays, no one uses .sit files. The zip is the standard -- or should be -- for simple single folder packaging (with or without compression) and the DMG is the standard for large or multiple folder packaging. Both formats expand without any added software on any recent Mac and on most Linux systems. RAR is only useful for segmenting which poses some difficulties in both OS X and Windows.



NTFS partitions can be used as read/write with Snow Leopard. See the link below.



Mac OS X 10.2 to 10.5.x can read/ write to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" file system and FAT32 file system (Apple's Disk Utility will call this "DOS file system"). Mac OS X can read and copy files from NTFS file system but cannot copy, save, move, or rename files from NTFS drive volumes. You will be limitted to 4GB or smaller files on a FAT32 drive volume. To use HFS-Plus drive with Windows, install MacDrive. To use NTFS drive volume with OS X, install "NTFS for Mac" or a combination of "MacFuse" and "NTFS-3G". Links below.

Answer 2

This is a safe link where you can download winrar for free here http://bit.ly/1v2nWkq



You can use winrar to unzip zip files (or to open compressed folder). 7zip or winzip are other softwares you can use for the same purpose but winrar is by far the best one. All these programs work in a very similar way: you just have to right click the file to zip or unzip any folders or files.



If you don't want a trial version don't worry. The trial period of winrar never ends so you can use it for free with no limitations.



With WINRAR you will be able to open all the type of compressed folder like file .zip, .rar, .7z, .7zip .iso, .tar, .jar etc... that's the main reason why I recommend it.

Answer 3

If you are wanting to completely move over to Mac OS X (reformatting your hard drive will completely erase what is currently on there), you should just be able to run the installation CD(s). I haven't installed Mac OS X before, but I know when installing any version of Windows, the installation asks if I want to partition/format the hard drive. You won't need to format your motherboard or ram, the only thing that will need partitioning/formatting is your hard drive. Good luck! (oh by the way, go with Linux, it's better than either of those choices!) EDIT: The other posters are right about compatibility issues. You should check with the manufacturers and Apple before installing on non-Mac hardware.

Answer 4

Well

Have tried Winrar lately. I got it from this site http://bit.ly/1p3PbGG

The best program you can use to decompress all the different kind of files is Winrar.

Best