If the error appears at the end of extraction (e.g., 95% done), the archive is truncated—the file is incomplete.
Use arc repack to salvage partial data:
arc repack damaged.arc salvaged.arc -m9 -s
This command forces FreeArc to ignore integrity checks and repack any readable blocks into a new archive.
Prevention is far easier than repair.
Check first few bytes. FreeArc archives start with Arc (magic bytes: 41 72 63 1A). If you see PK (ZIP), Rar!, MZ (EXE), etc., it’s a different format.
FreeArc has a hidden but powerful repair feature. Most users never try this.
Command line method:
This attempts to reconstruct the archive index. If successful, it will create a new file named rebuilt.arc.
If the error appears at the end of extraction (e.g., 95% done), the archive is truncated—the file is incomplete.
Use arc repack to salvage partial data:
arc repack damaged.arc salvaged.arc -m9 -s
This command forces FreeArc to ignore integrity checks and repack any readable blocks into a new archive.
Prevention is far easier than repair.
Check first few bytes. FreeArc archives start with Arc (magic bytes: 41 72 63 1A). If you see PK (ZIP), Rar!, MZ (EXE), etc., it’s a different format.
FreeArc has a hidden but powerful repair feature. Most users never try this.
Command line method:
This attempts to reconstruct the archive index. If successful, it will create a new file named rebuilt.arc.
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