For reasons unknown to me the developer of PAR Buddy, K. Timmermann, has taken down the program website. The program is unique- its is highly customizable and extremely flexible and it can easily be made portable- the developer has provided official instructions how to run PAR Buddy in portable mode. It is a shame that such a versatile program has been abandoned since it has no real alternatives. PAR Buddy has been mentioned before but hasn't been reviewed yet.
Synopsis
FeaturesPAR Buddy is a free Parchive 2 (PAR2) and RAR client which makes it possible to easily queue and schedule PAR2 checks/repairs jobs and/or unpack RAR files.
PAR Buddy's most powerful feature is the ability to monitor folders for PAR2 file sets and automaticly perform checking/reparing and RAR file unpacking or moving.
If you are already using QuickPAR, PAR Buddy can also work as a great supplement since QuickPAR can be launched manually from PAR Buddy in the rare cases where PAR Buddy is not sufficient for joining files.
Links
- Job queueing and scheduling.
- PAR2 checking and repairing.
- RAR unpacking with password support.
- Joining split files.
- Flexible monitor feature with filters/rules allow to automaticky check/repair PAR sets, unpack or move file, etc.
- Configurable pop-up notifications with sound effects when jobs are finished.
- NFO file detection and support for NFO vievers.
- Copying/moving of related files (configurable).
- Use SFV files to determine related files (optional).
- Deleting of unwanted files (configurable).
- Anti-spam files rules/filters to avoid dangerous files.
- Option to delete empty source folders.
- Option to create folder cover image (if available).
- Display of folder cover (if available).
- Detailed activity and error logs.
- Minimizing to tray option and animated tray icon when working.
- Drop PAR2 files from file managers (Windows Explorer, Total Commander, etc.)
- Integration with QuickPAR.
- Integration with file managers.
- Attractive and intuitive user interface.
- Supports Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 in both 32bit and 64bit variants.
- And much more.
Website - Unavailable
Website - Internet Archive
Website - Internet Archive (2015-02-15)
Softpedia
SoftSea
AlternativeTo
Downloads Images
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - tabs:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - settings:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - monitor:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - add job to queue:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - monitors - context menu:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - job finished - incomplete:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - job finished - complete:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - tray control:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 - about:
Portability
The developer has provided instructions how to run PAR Buddy in portable mode. The program is fully portable and stealth.
Instructions
- Download the executable (PARBuddy280_Setup.exe);
- Extract the executable;
- Navigate to {app} sub-folder and move it to a location of your choice;
- Open file PARBuddy_ini.txt;
- Navigate to line SettingsFolder=DEFAULT;
- Change the line to SettingsFolder=APPPATH;
- Save and close file PARBuddy_ini.txt;
- Rename file PARBuddy_ini.txt to PARBuddy.ini;
- Create Settings sub-folder in program folder;
- Run the executable (PARBuddy.exe);
- Settings files will be saved in XML files (PARBuddySettings.xml, PARBuddyMonitors.xml) inside Settings sub-folder;
Code: Select all
SettingsFolder=APPPATH
PAR Buddy should run on Windows XP or higher and it requires NET Framework 2.0 or higher:
PAR Buddy version 2.80 (x32) works fine under Windows 8 x64.
- Windows XP, Windowns Vista or Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit)
- .NET Framework v2.0
License
PAR Buddy is unrestricted freeware:
NotePAR Buddy is freeware, meaning it's completely free to use and does not contain spyware, malware, ads, etc.
This software is unsupported and without any warrenty - installing and using is at the user's own risk.
The latest (and most likely- last) version of PAR Buddy - 2.80, was released on 2011-01-25.
The latest version of PAR Buddy - 2.80, supports only PAR2 files.
PAR Buddy may be abandoned for good and may be considered legacy software but it is a complex and well-designed tool.
As far as I know there is no way to contact the developer.
The x64 version of PAR Buddy (PARBuddy280_64bit_Setup.exe) has become the holy grail for me- I searched for it thoroughly but I couldn't find a working download link.
Alternatives
To my knowledge there are no real alternatives to PAR Buddy. However there are several programs which can handle Parchive files:
- MultiPar
- Par-N-Rar
- QuickPar
File details for PAR Buddy version 2.80 (released on 2011-01-25):
==
Name: PARBuddy280_Setup.exe
File Size: 2902238 Byte(s) (2.77 MB)
MD5: 7c6f753378b0c3ef64be7207f103c78c
SHA1: 0451eb2e52d9a85123eb3517061cd9c8b056b0b5
SHA256: 382fa987170e1193a002609645e3b633eb5edc3dcd39008b788dff85968fa84f
SHA512: ecee04858f23e0aab0372c5d40f8f53adb3372a552df07d7bc3128de3203062b8770681b1933f1b697ae531101f9901244a2988c245fe6ce53a6a56b1eb99dc8
==