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Is there a way (apart from unzipping, and then making an image, manually, step by step) to convert a series of let's say, zip or rar files, to an image file (I'm not choosy as to the type) ?

By series of zip/rar files, I mean a series of archives, all of the same size (for example, 20 mb, as they were send by mail).

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  • To be sure about the need: you need something to automate the extraction of several archives, to one image file (or eventually more)? Should these extracted content be in separated folders, or everything on the root, no matter from which archive it came from?
    – Gnoupi
    Feb 15, 2010 at 16:24
  • No, it is one archive. Only splitted in several files. Rar, at least, treats them as such. As it is in the archive, so it should be in the image.
    – Rook
    Feb 15, 2010 at 16:26
  • If you download something through Usenet, you generally end up with the same. In that case there are several programs that automatically download AND unpack it for you.
    – Ivo Flipse
    Feb 15, 2010 at 19:48
  • @Ivo - although I know what you're reffering to ;), in here it is literally as I stated, the case of a lot of files being send through email (production models, as in 3d models, with lots of parts, archived). There are better ways for sending them, I know, but not everyone is willing to accept them. I work in a traditional industry.
    – Rook
    Feb 15, 2010 at 19:56

2 Answers 2

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If we are talking about one archive in several files, then you will find information about regrouping them into one file only (or at least extract their content at once) at this other question (or this one, seems they are duplicates which should be merged).

To make an image file from the extracted content, you can use PowerISO, which works nicely for this purpose.

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  • Uhmm, no. Those questions deal with splitted files, but not archives. There is a difference. I can archive something (let's say a giant png) into a giant rar archive and then split it using file splitter like hjsplit, but it will not be the same as archiving the giant png into separate consecutive archives of file size of let's say 20mb. Which btw, are handled as one archive, not as many.
    – Rook
    Feb 15, 2010 at 16:53
  • @Idigas - these questions also contain information about splitted archives, like from rar files. If we talk about mostly one archive which was splitted by a compression program, then the same program will be able to see them as one only, and extract the content. If these are indeed separated files, created individually, then you should be able to select all, and use the contextual menu option from Win(RAR/Zip) to extract all of them in place.
    – Gnoupi
    Feb 15, 2010 at 17:15
  • I saw rar being mentioned a few times (once wrong, which Molly rectified), but haven't seen any solution for contanticating smaller files into a big one.
    – Rook
    Feb 15, 2010 at 18:52
  • @Idigas - then I see only the "select all" + "contextual menu, extract here" way, if they are separate files. Or you can try the program suggested by Ivo, as well.
    – Gnoupi
    Feb 16, 2010 at 8:39
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I would recommend using AutoUnpack

AutoUnpack is a freeware utility that can be used to automatically download, repair, and unpack all RAR-, 7z-, zip-, TS - archives, or splitted files (e.g. *.001). Which is especially useful for usenet binaries.

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Normally people will start QuickPar while downloading (or afterwards) to verify whether the downloaded files are complete and to repair them if necessary. Then it is time to extract the downloaded files with WinRAR or 7-Zip . Finally they will delete the RAR and PAR files. So a couple of actions have to be performed by the user. AutoUnpack can automatically do this for us as follows:

  • While downloading files from usenet, start AutoUnpack and tell it which folder it should monitor (your download folder).
  • AutoUnpack analyzes this source folder to search for PAR2 files. It uses them to verify the downloaded files that belong to them. If some files are incomplete or missing and there aren't enough PAR2 repair blocks available, the program will show how many blocks are missing. It will analyze the folder again later (10 minutes for example).
  • If enough PAR2 repair blocks are available AutoUnpack will repair the missing or incomplete files (if necessary).
  • AutoUnpack will verify whether the repair was successful. If so, it will unpack the archive to extract the files.
  • Finally AutoUnpack can remove the RAR and PAR files after extraction.
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  • Don't forget to suggest a way to make the ISO afterwards, as well, in your answer.
    – Gnoupi
    Feb 16, 2010 at 8:40
  • It could well be an archived image in which case you only have to merge the archive files and unpack them ;-)
    – Ivo Flipse
    Feb 16, 2010 at 8:44

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