HJ-Split: Do the splits!

HJ-Split is a tiny utility to split files into multiple pieces. In the past, this was extremely useful for getting files onto floppy drives. But now people might be tempted to think that splitting files is useless, but that is not so. One primary use is e-mailing, if your attachment is too big you can split it. Or it's even useful for uber-large files, since HJ-Split can handle files "larger than 10GB!"

The first thing you notice about HJ-Split (as with any program) is the interface. To be honest, it looks like something that came out of the early 90s, but don't be scared off. You can't judge a book by its cover....or hideous gradient. (Kidding!) In all seriousness, HJ-Split is very useful because it does so much more than joining files; it also joins, compares, and calculates the checksum.

(1) Splitting is obviously HJ-Split's main feature. You can choose an input file, choose an output "array" (a string of files followed by "001", "002", etc), and then choose the split size in either KB or MB. Then you press "Start", and watch it run.

(2) HJ-Split also has a built-in Joiner as well. All you have to do is pick the first piece of the split file (like "file.001") and it will auto-find the rest, and join them.

(3) It also has a very simple Compare utility which will check if two files are equal.

(4) On top of everything else, HJ-Split also has a Checksum calculator. It can tackle even large files, and will allow you to copy the checksum straight to the keyboard with the press of a button.


The best part about HJ-Split is that it is extremely versatile. First off, it's very tiny, weighing in at 300kb for the Windows 32bit version. Secondly, it's portable, since it literally requires no other resource besides itself. Lastly, it's uber cross platform. What do I mean by "uber"? Well, of course it's available on Windows, and it's even available on Mac, and there's even a version for Linux. But HJ-Split goes way beyond that. It's got a Windows 16 bit version for older machines (like DOS), a version built for PHP for websites, a version for Amiga, and -last but not least- a version written in Java. If you don't know much about Java, Java is different because it can run on literally any computer that has a "Java Virtual Machine", which is almost every OS nowadays.

So if you're interested, check out the Java version as well. I've never been one for Java programs, but I find HJ-Split-Java incredibly interesting, and it's fun to see the exact program side by side with two entirely different feels. They are a little different though; for example, the Java version has a "Delete source file" option after you split or join a file. But they are essentially the exact same program.

Overall, it's a very useful program. If you're looking for an even easy progra for just joining, check out HJ-Split's sister program, HJ-Join, hosted at the same place: FreeByte. When it comes to RAM, the Win32 version is hard to judge, because it really depends on what you demand of the program. If you're splitting a 10GB file with 10kb pieces, it will take alot more RAM than if you split a 32kb file into two 16kb pieces.But it stays relatively low; around 7mb RAM for Checksum checking, 18mb for splitting a 60mb file. Totally worth it, if you ask me.

Visit HJ-Split (Freebyte) website for download

100K-Zipper: Small compression...redundant, or genius?

100k-zipper is the compression piece of TinyUSBOffice. Despite the name, the program is actally only 84kb. The program is limited to just ZIP compression, but it handles it fairly well. Obviously, it handles creating new archives as well as extracting from existing archives.

One of the nice things is that it's obviously small and portable. All that's required is the program, and it runs fairly light on resources (1mb RAM idle, around 3mb when working.) Another is that it can display the different files inside of an archive either as Icons, a List, a Report, or Small Icons. The list of files is very intuitive; instead of showing just the names of the files, it also shows the filetype (such as "Opendocument text"), the size, the time (last modified, I assume), the packed size, and the compression ratio. And the last nice thing about it is the option to "Add path". It sounds like you can add a folder, but what it means is that instead of adding files directly to the zip, it will retain the path. For example, if the file is located in C:\My Documents\Monkey\FreewareWire.txt, it will add FreewareWire.txt to the subfolders My Documents\Monkey\ inside of the ZIP file. There is also a directory navigator side panel.


There are a few reasons that make 100K-Zipper less than perfect. The first is that it accepts any file as a ZIP file. That means, if you open an EXE, it won't know the difference, and if you may accidentally overwrite a program, or a document, or what have you. Another downside is that you can't just Add/Append to an existing ZIP, which means you have to extract and start from scratch if you want to add just one file. The very MOST ANNOYING PART of 100K-zip is the annoying "overwrite" warning. It pops up when you do almost anything (besides opening an existing file.)

The way the file selection is set up, you choose files from one directory, then hit "Add" again, then select from a second directory, and so on and so forth. But every single time you hit the "Add" button, the "overwrite" warning pops up, even though it should only popup for the first time. It almost made me think that all the files I wanted to add had to be in the same directory.


Finally we come to closing. Like, literally. In order to "close" a zip file, you just close 100K-Zipper. Until you do, you'll get a "Corrupted archive" warning every time you try to open the archive you're working on.

Overall, it's a nice little app for being so small and handling ZIP files. Maybe not an ideal main compression program, but for on the go, it zips wonderfully.

Visit 100K-Zipper (QuickZipDev) website for download

HJ-Join: Bringing people together...I mean files....

HJ-Join is a free utility to join files that have been split into pieces. To be honest, this program is freakin amazing. Here's why:

1. Standalone, tiny: one app, 32kb or 44kb, depending on if it's a 32 or 16 bit system.

2. Portable: independent, so you can bring it on a flash drive, or even e-mail it.

3. No config needed: you just run the program, and it does what it's meant to do. You don't need to tell it what files to join, it just joins whatever parts (ie. x.001, x.002, etc) are in the folder that it is in. Also, if there are two different types of split files, like "monkey.zip.001" and "freeware.zip.001", it will automatically combine the correct files, so it's not like you have to be worried about it joining things it shouldn't.

You might be wondering, "What is the practical application of this? In the olden days, they had to split files to fit on floppy disks, but now I have all the space I need." One word, my friend: e-mail.

Every e-mail service has an attachment limit. If you have a file that is over that attachment limit, there are two different options you can do: upload it to some site that makes the other person wait for 2 minutes before they can download, or split it. The latter is much easier.

So after you split your file using a file-splitting software (such as HJ-Join's cousin, HJ-Split), send the pieces, one by one through e-mail. Then, send HJ-Join, and just tell the person to run the program, and they'll have their file. You don't even have to be computer literate, all you have to do is put the pieces and the program in the same folder!

So that is the main use for file splitting and joining. The thing I like about HJ-Join is that it's small, and easy to use. And it works with any split files. It's one of those things where you are probably going to need it one day, and it's only 44kb, so why not have it?

Visit HJ-Join (FreeByte) website for download

7-zip: Zip it up, 7z style!

7-zip is a compression tool that is rather unique. 7-zip actually introduces its own compression format, 7z. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the reasons I love 7-zip:

-7z format: Ok, now I can talk about this. 7z is actually a brand spanking new format and is highly compressible. I find that 7z files can be 25% to 50% smaller than the exact same files in a zip archive. However, because this format is not known by everyone (but it is becoming more and more common), you can't exactly use 7z files if you're going to put it up for other people to download. Nevertheless, if you are using it for your own personal use, then 7z is the way to go.

-Better compression all around: Yes, 7-zip has better compression all around for numerous formats. According to the developer site, "For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip."

-Self extracting 7z (SFX): This is pretty cool. What if you want to send a file to someone that is not good with compression software? Easier: create a self-extracting archive. Even better, it's 7z format, so it is a highly compression self-extracting archive! And it's easy to do; all you do is click "SFX" in the "Create Archive" dialouge.

-Windows shell: Adds an entire category to your context menu. That way you don't have to do "Open with" and hunt for 7-zip. You can open an archive, extract the files to any folder, quickly extract the files to the folder you're in, or add to archive (either an existing, or new).

-File manager: I don't use nearly as often as I should, but it's still a very nice file manager. You can add, extract, test, copy, move, delete, and more right inside the manager. You can split and merge, calculate the checksum, add a comment, and much more from the right click. There are 4 different views, just like in explorer, and there's even 10 favorites that you can add.

-Command line: Everything I mentioned above you can do command line-style. I suggest copying 7z.exe to the system32 folder, then you can just type "7z" in the command prompt, and vwa la. To figure out all of the commands for command line, just run the 7z.exe from the command prompt. Here's the output, in case you want to know:

Usage: 7z [...] [...]
[<@listfiles...>]


a: Add files to archive
d: Delete files from archive
e: Extract files from archive (without using directory names)
l: List contents of archive
t: Test integrity of archive
u: Update files to archive
x: eXtract files with full paths

-ai[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: Include archives
-ax[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: eXclude archives
-bd: Disable percentage indicator
-i[r[-|0]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: Include filenames
-m{Parameters}: set compression Method
-o{Directory}: set Output directory
-p{Password}: set Password
-r[-|0]: Recurse subdirectories
-scs{UTF-8 | WIN | DOS}: set charset for list files
-sfx[{name}]: Create SFX archive
-si[{name}]: read data from stdin
-slt: show technical information for l (List) command
-so: write data to stdout
-t{Type}: Set type of archive
-v{Size}[b|k|m|g]: Create volumes
-u[-][p#][q#][r#][x#][y#][z#][!newArchiveName]: Update options
-w[{path}]: assign Work directory. Empty path means a temporary directory
-x[r[-|0]]]{@listfile|!wildcard}: eXclude filenames
-y: assume Yes on all queries

It's a little complicated, but if you are in to command line, use it well.

-Size: The entire install is under 3mb. What's not to like about that?

-Cross Platform: For what it's worth, 7-zip is also available on Linux.

-Portable: How could an app this great not be portable? The good people at PortableApps certainly thought so.

Visit 7-zip website for Download