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I'm not new to Hide X, I've been using it since 0.2.24 (currently running 0.3.46 - July 1 2014), but it's got so many features that I'm always learning new things about it. Today when I was updating my library I realized I have no idea why it's required to specify a length. This got me wondering why it even exists. Why would I want to use part of a file instead of the whole thing? Is there some benefit I'm missing out on? If so, what length is optimal? Currently my library uses 100% length on all files.

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5 Answers 5

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It's mostly just to give the user freedom of choice, but it can be beneficial under a few circumstances.

For example if a file is deleted your library will be less dependent on it, if someone try's to steal your data by reconstucting it on a new database they MUST use the same length settings (you can make it even harder for them by throwing in a few files that have unique lengths), and it allows you to use files of varying sizes while making sure that each shares the same weight in the library (in the case of fragmented files with low length settings you could see a performance increase!).

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There is no benefit to using only part of a file. The option exists, because the authors have a sense of humor. Hide X has loads of silly little useless things added in, for example the corrupt option which can be used to corrupt specified files. :P

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To my knowledge there is no benefit to using only part of a file, but there can be a disadvantage. Hide X needs a good variety of data, by using less of a file you'll likely need to use more files in order to meet the minimum amount of different data to build the library. Like you, I use full length +length="1/1".

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Not really, it's just a useless option someone added in for fun. The only only advantage would be that if a library file were damaged, or deleted you'd lose less data because Hide X would be less dependant on that file. That's no reason to use the feature though, as you can achieve the same result by using smaller files.

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The length feature is just a junk option. Since anyone can contribute to the project, lots of useless (but interesting) options are added. While it is true that using a smaller length means loss of the file will result in less loss of data this doesn't matter, because if your goal is to not loose data you should be using files that won't be moved/deleted/altered.

Out of all the junk options added my favorite is "ignore", which makes Hide X ignore the command and all the attached options, esentially you just typed everything out for nothing, lolz.

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    The ignore tag is not junk, it was made specifically to protect noob users that copy & paste example codes without altering values (or thinking). Sep 13, 2014 at 2:08

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