Split&Concat created a UNix executable file...what now?

Factual Questions
#1

I had several large video files and used Split&Concat to split them into transferable sizes of 4gb each. (I am on a Mac with transfer limits of 4gb)

SPlit&Concat turned those files into UNix executable files, and i have no idea what to do with them now as no programs will open them. It went from a Mac to a Mac, so there shouldnt be formatting issues.

Anyone know how to resolve this issue?

#2

Just add the extension to the file name (if it’s a Quicktime movie, and .mov, if a Flash movie .flv, etc.)

#3

Beowulff,

I tried, Quicktime will not open it.

#4

Are you sure these are executable files? Aren’t they just xxx.ext.001 xxx.ext.002 xxx.ext.003 etc? (Here, “xxx.ext” is the original file name and extension).

If so, you can join them back by moving any xxx.ext.* files that don’t end in a number somewhere else, then opening a terminal window and typing


cat "path/to/xxx.ext.*" >"path/to/xxx.ext"
#5

The Macintosh is calling them “Unix executable files” because the files don’t have a Macintosh “resource fork” and because they don’t have a recognizable file extension (the “file type”, e.g. “.doc” for a Word document or “.mov” for a Quicktime movie). The files are not “unix programs”.

What happened is that you used a tool to take a huge file and split it into several chunks of indigestible garbage (as far as the Mac is concerned.) You need to take another tool (probably the same program you used to split up the file can join the parts back together) to reassemble the chunks of indigestible garbage back into the one huge file that a Macintosh program (like a video player program) can work with.