Check out this program:
http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/freefile/story/0,24330,3425537,00.html

Hi Silver Dagger,
Actually that was the first program I tried. I didn't see any functionality to do that with. Did I miss it? Also the Explorer context menus in that application are hosed.
Thanks for the tip,
Christian Blackburn

Filzip. www.filzip.com
Free(at least for now) supports ace,rar,cab, and all the rest.
 
Also check out 7-zip
www.7-zip.org it is GPL software and always will be free.

I don't think 7-zip supports multi-volume.. at least yet.
But you can split file into fixed-size parts and then compress them using your favourite archiver. Take a look at UnxUtils and split's man pages.

Hi Gang,
You're absolutely right 7-Zip doesn't support volume spans otherwise I'd be done already. I love 7-Zip compression and have the main app currently installed. PS v.3.12 just came out.
 
Also I'll take a look at FilZip and the Open Source utils.
Cheers,
Christian Blackburn

Try Izarc:
 
http://www.izsoft.dir.bg/izarc.htm

Hi Clutch,
Thanks for the suggestion Silver Dagger already recommended that though it's hard to tell unless you follow his URL. I would like to repeat my question to him. Does it support archive spanning? I just tried it two days ago and saw no such feature.
 
I did notice that CuteZip will split an already made zip file into a specified size of Zip spans. I've always hated CuteZip though, because the author focusses too much on UI and graphics and rather than intuitive functionality and more importantly stability. I kept trying it for a long time thinking he'd make a stable build, but he never does.
Thanks,
Christian Blackburn

try WinAce ( www.winace.com), it supports spanning for popular media (3.5 disk, zip disk etc) and you can specify the size (in kb) you want it to span the archive. freeware/shareware too...

If you go to the features section of the site, you should see this:
 
Create an archive
Add files to an existing archive
Delete files from an existing archive
Extract files from an existing archive
Test an archive file
Convert archive
Repair broken archive
Searching for any files in many archives
Favorite Folders
Obtaining a detailed list of files and information like compression rate, path, or size from an archive file
Supports both long and short 8.3 filenames
 
Disk spanning from and to multiple diskettes or other removable media
 
Implementing the possibility to sort the list items by name size, date and etc.
 
Full Drag & Drop support
Integrating in Windows Explorer context menu
Automatic installation of most software distributed in archive files
Add/View comments in an archive
By double-clicking onto a file in the file list, it's opened with the program associated to this file type
CheckOut feature
 
Create a self-extracting archive
E-mail an archive
Checking for new updates
Build-in multilanguage support
Virus Scan feature
UU/XX/MIME Encode/Decode
Create Multi-Volume Set
Merge Multi-Volume Set
UnSFX (Convert self-extracting (SFX) .EXE files to standard archives)
Encrypt files using Rijandael - AES (256-bits) encryption
Decrypt (.ize) files
 
I would imagine that is what you are looking for.

Hi Tsonta,
Thanks for trying to help. No offense, but there's a night and day difference between freeware and shareware.
Cheers,
Christian Blackburn

If you open the app, go Tools > Create Multi-Volume set. You can then browse out an existing zip archive and span it to any size break you want. Very easy.

Hi Clutch,
Thanks for letting me know. I actually saw that amidst your last post, but hadn't had the time to try it and give a response. Thanks for shortening your response though and when I get a chance I'll mostl likely give it a go. Though I'm leaning towards CuteZip since I've used it more. Has anyone had a chance to compare the two and if so what were your conclusions?
 
Cheers,
Christian Blackburn

Quote:No offense, but there's a night and day difference between freeware and shareware

none taken, but i couldn't be asked checking whether WinAce was shareware or freeware.... it's all down to me being very lazy these days...

I'm sure winrar would do the trick but it's not free so try arj32 http://www.arjsoft.com/files.htm it's a command line tool but I think it'll do.
 
the command would be something like
arj32 a test.arj *.* /v700M /y
 
the /y switch answers yes when asked to proceed with next volume.

Hi Tomay,
Thanks for your suggestion and providing a freeware option. I will download it. However, I personally think command-line tools are only good for repetitive actions or programmers. I wish their was a UI version of this . I did wind up using IZarc to split the files though. I will try your suggestion next time Tomay. However, I'm sure I'll wind up needing to split some 800MB avi file across multiple CDs some time in the future. Your .Rar based solution would be better than IzArc since it's span archives are .Zip only. I wish somebody would create a 7-Zip span tool. Hell I don't even know if the format supports spans. However that would strike me as funny if it didn't since 7-Zip is probably the most recent format and should have the most features, not be missing some of the most important ones.
Cheers,
Christian Blackburn

I am the savior!
HJsplit.
http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/
it will split any binary file regardless of type, and make a little batchfile that will rejoin them. All major OS supported.

Hi Tomay,
I took at look at our Arj32 and it's looks to be $45 dollars. Is it free for personal use or did they just change their tune?
http://www.arjsoft.com/newarj32.htm
 
Thanks,
Christian Blackburn