Send, copy, email presentation files larger than 1 MB
I'd like now to share with you a real problem that one of our fellows, Tomoko from Japan, had a few weeks ago. She was desperate since she was not able to fit her presentation in one floppy.
She told me that she had tried to zip the file, but the file size was still too big to fit in a standard floppy disk. She needed to bring with her the presentation file to Malaysia, and she needed to use floppies and not CD-ROM since on her old laptop the CD-ROM device was temporarily out of order.
I wrote her a few lines that I decided later to polish and expand a bit, and publish in this newsletter since other readers may be interested in this easy solution.
Let's have a closer look at the tool I suggested her to download (for free) and use. It's called Chainsaw.
Chainsaw will split your file in small chunks whose size you can set manually. You can just copy the different chunks in separate floppy disks and carry them with you.
Chainsaw is a very easy program to use, small in size and free to download. You can find it at:
http://www.schmeusser.siw.de/software/ chainsaw.html or also at: ftp://ftp.sohard.de/pub/NewBago/ chainsaw.zip
The software is available only for Windows-based PCs.
The download is relatively small, since the installation files have been previously zipped (see previous article #2) and they total only 96 KB in size.
Once downloaded, save the zipped file on your hard disk, double click it and it will be extracted by WinZip (see article #2).
Chainsaw is now ready to be used.
To gain faster access to it, just copy or drag the file chainsaw.exe on your desktop: you will see its funny icon and from now on you can start using it.
You will see right away how easy it is to use this simple tool due to its user-friendly interface.
Let's see how to use Chainsaw in detail:
What to do if I want to split a big file?
1) Double-click on the Chainsaw icon (Chainsaw.exe) on your desktop to start it up
2) Define the chunk size (you can set it manually) or select one of the standard ones
3) Clear the box where it says: "Redirect output to directory"
4) Drag your PowerPoint file (from the desktop or Windows Explorer) on top of the icon where it says: "Drop files here" and release the mouse
If you have soundcard and speakers installed, you'll be delighted with the funny sound Chainsaw plays when splitting any file!
Chainsaw splits your file while it creates a set of numbered chunks and one .bat file.
What is the purpose of this .bat file?
It is a file that contains a command, so when you "execute" this file (e.g. you double-click on it) it starts a series of actions. In this case, the batch file (with the .bat extension) that is created, will recompose for you all the chunks once you want to have back your entire original file.
Chainsaw does everything automatically, you only need to bring with you, or send by email, all the chunks created and automatically numbered plus the batch file. As soon as all these files are placed in the same directory you can double-click the batch file and it will re-create for you the original file.
!!!PROS:
- It's a free tool
- It's fast to download and does not require installation: once you have extracted it, it's ready to work
- Chainsaw does not need to be installed on the PC where you need to rebuild your file
- You can manually set the maximum size of the chunks according to your needs
CONS¡¡¡:
- It cannot "chunk up" directories (folders) but only files
You can read this article in the original issue of MasterView.
