Strange CD Burn

This is an "optimistic question". That is, I am in denial of what I think will ultimately make me suicidal.

I just finished a grueling 3 day (yes, 3 days) download of a file via dial-up. Very slow. Torture.

This is my first burn. I open up the program with winrar and I get 2 errors. File corrupted and unexpected ending. Does this mean I am screwed?

Wait! Don't say anything yet. Let me entertain all the reasons why I should not kill myself... maybe I did soemthing wrong... maybe i have the wrong versions of the programs (the most recent)... maybe...

Someone give me something! I am drowning in my own impending depression. Give me some possible solutions to this error other than calling my shrink. Dial-up sucks. Does God dislike me?
 
The place where you downloaded those files should have provided an SFV file for you to verify your files. If so, download that SFV file into the same directory as your downloaded files, then load it into Win-SFV and run it to see which file's CRC fails. Those that fail are those the need to be redownloaded.
 
You can also use WinRAR's test function to find out which archive segment is bad or missing if there is no SFV file.

If you're lucky you may even be able to repair a damaged archive with the repair function.
 
Lots of FTP servers have really lousy resume support, so there's a good chance the archive can't be repaired.
 
I am still alive. (smile).

The test function on winrar says "CRC has failed in (game).bin. The file is corrupt." and a second error: "(game).rar has an unexpected end of archive."

I tried the repair function...

The reconstructed file also says the .bin in corrupt.

Now what? I cannot maintain a 14 hour dial up to get the whole thing again. and the FTP has it as one rar file.

Any comments or suggestions?
 
All I can suggest is that you attemp to resume the download of the 'unrepaired' rar file from the FTP.

It could be that the download stopped before it was complete and you just thought it had finished. We are grasping at straws here though.
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does this mean that everyone who makes use of downloads has a boradband or cable connection?

Has anyone pulled this off with a dial-up? And how?

By the way, does anyone have an extra Radiant Silvergun they no longer play? Just the game is fine, I am not a box or manual collector. Just wondering...
 
I only have a 56k connection and I used to download games all the time. Probably 30+ in total.

It takes patience and luck, especially when the game is made up of one large file and the ability to resume can be a bit hit and miss.

Eventually I found that CDR trading was much more efficient. :
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Should I assume some servers are better than others at resumed dowloads and not try it from this particular one again? Are there any sites that have been tested for resummed downloads that may work for me?
 
Some servers are bound to be better than others, though this relies as much on bandwidth quantity/quality as much as server setup.

Unfortunately (for you, that is), you just have to try your luck with resuming. My advice is to steer clear of single file downloads (actually the same goes for uploaders as well - consider us poor 56k'ers you bastards!).
 
unexpected end means your archive is incomplete (the one big file is smaller than it should be, in this case). this is also causing the crc error, since winrar is trying to compare 2 different files for the moment. finishing the download will fix both problems, but if the source file is incomplete you're probably screwed.

as for the servers screwing up the transfer, i don't buy it, i find ftp to be one of the most reliable forms of transfer. it is after all developed for the specific purpose of sending files; you'd think after 20 years it would be pretty refined.
 
The capability to resume an FTP transfer is a more recent addition, I believe. In any case, you better believe in the problem as it happens every time you try to resume from certain servers. The downloaded file is of the correct size, but can't be opened. I haven't cared enough to investigate if the server just starts from the beginning or skips an incorrect number of bytes or even what server software causes this to happen. I doubt it's a client problem as it only happens on some servers (in my experience, at least). It is (probably) not a case of an already broken file as when it happened to me I eventually managed to download the file in one go and could then open it just fine.
 
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