How to compress a Huge File on PC?

A conventional DVD disk can hold anything between 4.4GB and 4.7GB. So you've got yourself a 4.8GB+ file that you need to back up but can't because it's just too huge to fit onto a DVD huh?

Well fret no longer, with WinRAR you can easily compress and split that whopper of a file into two or more smaller more flexible files. In this tutorial I will guide you through the process, from downloading the software to splitting that file. Just follow these steps as you go along:

Acquire the software
Firstly you're going to need to get the software that makes all this possible, WinRAR. WinRAR is a try before you buy zipping tool that enabled you to compress and split your files into a host of zip formats. It has a 30 day trial period, but you can still split large files well after this period has ended. So technically speaking, the splitting part is free.

You can download it here. You will need to choose between the 32bit or 64bit download depending on what bit your operating system is.

Once the download is complete double click it to begin the install. When the install begins you will get a screen like this:

Just select the path that you want to install it to. The default is C:Program FilesWinRAR. You can leave it as this if you want. Once you have chosen the install path then click Install.

When it has finished installing a screen like this will pop up:

You can just leave this as it is and click OK, or if you already have a program that you use to zip and unzip then you can deselect popular zip formats like ZIP, 7-Zip etc. On the next screen just click Run.

Using the Program
When WinRAR open you will get the main screen:

To split the large file just go to the WinRAR Wizard. It's the icon with the wizard holding an archive of books, in the toolbar. Or go Tools>Wizard.


Then select Create a new archive and click Next>. You will now need to select that Really Large File, it can be any sort or file or folder.

Select the file/folder and then click OK. On the next screen you can type in a name for your archive or you can leave it default. Then click Next.

The Wizard's archiving options will now be displayed.

You can set a password for your file if you really want to, but just make sure you don't forget it. When you click the little arrow pointing down you will have the option to split the archive into several parts (This is what we've been building up to). You can select either 1.5MB, 100MB, 700MB or 4.4GB files. If it's a large file that you want to back up onto 700MB CD's then select CD700. If you want to put the file on a DVD then select DVD+R.

Once you have done this press Finish. The wizard will now archive your file into several parts depending on how big you wanted each part to be.

When the archive is complete you will be left with several files. Named: Your file name here.part1, part2, part3 and so on. To restore the large file you will need to have all the smaller files in the same location, like on your desktop. Then all you have to do is right click on the .part1 file and click the extract here option from the popup menu. It will then extract all of them back to the single larger file.