StuffIt Lite provides a general purpose facility for segmenting large files into parts (segments). You may want to do this in order to fit a large file from a hard disk onto floppies or to send a large file in chunks over a communications link. You can segment any type of file regardless if it is a StuffIt archive or a large database document (however, if you want your segmented files to be self-extracting — and thereby automatically join when double-clicked — you’ll need to follow either one of the two methods for creating a multiple disk self-extracting archive).
Multiple Disk Self-Extracting Archives
To segment your large archives into self-extracting archives that can be saved or copied to multiple disks or cartridges. The following two methods explain how to do this.
Method One: Saving Directly to Floppy Disks
The main advantage of Method One is you do not need to have the room on your hard disk to store the segments as they are made. The main disadvantage is if one of the floppy disks you are segmenting to is bad, you must start the segmenting process over.
1) In StuffIt Lite, open the StuffIt archive from which you want to create a multiple disk self-extracting archive. Open a standard archive (ending in “.sit”, not “.sea”).
2) Choose “Save As” from the File menu.
3) Click the “Self-Extracting” check box.
Do not turn on the Self-Extracting feature anywhere else but in the Save As dialog box. This is very important.
4) Insert a floppy disk, and select it as the destination.
5) Click Save.
A dialog box appears asking if you want to segment the file.
6) Click Yes.
Continue to insert disks as prompted. You have the option to erase the contents of an inserted disk, if you want. Otherwise, StuffIt Lite adjusts the size of the segment to fit on the remaining disk space.
7) After all segments have been written to the floppy disks, you should check the contents of each disk to ensure data integrity.
The more important your data is, the more you need to verify the data. You can do this in one of three ways:
• Copy the segment from each floppy disk to a folder on your hard disk. The very process of copying a file successfully verifies the data.
• Use a third party utility, such as Norton Disk Doctor or MacTools, to verify each disk.
• Reverse the process by double-clicking segment one on disk one. This extracts the data to its original, UnStuffed state.
Method Two: Saving to Your Hard Disk First
This method requires segmenting the archive to your hard disk and copying each segment to floppy disks.
The main advantage of Method Two is if a floppy disk is bad, all you have to do is copy its segment from the hard disk to another floppy disk. The main disadvantage is you must have plenty of room on your hard disk to store the original archive and the segments created.
1) Run StuffIt Lite.
2) Choose the “Segment...” submenu from “Segmenting” under the Translate menu.
A dialog box appears with some new options.
3) Click the Self-Extracting check box.
4) Select the archive you want to segment. Choose a standard archive (ending in “.sit”, not “.sea”).
5) Select the media size from the “Size of Segments” pop-up menu at the bottom of the dialog box.
Choose the size of the segments that match the size of the media you will be copying the segments to after the segmenting process is done.
Note: The floppy disk options are fixed segment sizes: 400K for single-sided, 800K for double sided, and 1.3MB for high density. However, System 7 may format a disk at less capacity because it can block out bad sectors on the floppy disk. This means if you insert a System 7-formatted floppy disk that has only 1.1MB available (and you have selected the High Density Disk option), there will not be enough room to copy the segment onto the floppy. If you run into this problem while copying segments to a floppy, start over at step 1 to resegment the file and at step 5 choose “Other...” from the pop-up menu and enter a size that is slightly less (about 10k) than the available space on the problematic floppy.
6) Click the “Segment” button in the dialog box. Another dialog box appears to save the first segment.
StuffIt Lite automatically adds a suffix for the number of the segment (e.g., “.2”) after the name of the file you’re segmenting. It’s best to leave the name unchanged because it makes it easier to join the segments later.
7) Go to the folder (on your hard disk) in which you want to save the first segment and click “Save.”
When you segment a file to a hard disk, you can automatically create several segments by clicking the “Save All” button instead of the “Save” button in the Segment dialog box. StuffIt Lite automatically divides the file into as many segments as necessary to fit on the media you selected earlier.
The segmented icons look like this:
 
(Actual file names will vary)
8. Copy each segment to a floppy disk.
The Macintosh normally verifies files as they are read from or written to disk. However, if you want to be extra sure your data is secure, use a third party utility, such as Norton Disk Doctor or MacTools, to verify each disk.
Segmenting Files
Use this method for taking an existing file and segmenting it to fit on multiple diskettes. The advantage to using this method (rather than the two other methods presented above) is that it allows you segment any kind of file (not necessarily a StuffIt archive). If you segment a file that is not a StuffIt archive, you cannot make the segments self-extracting. Using the following method, you are required to manually join the files to restore what was segmented.
1) Run StuffIt Lite.
2) Choose the “Segment...” submenu from “Segmenting” under the Translate menu.
A dialog box appears with some new options.
3) Select the file you want to segment.
4) Select the media size from the “Size of Segments” pop-up menu at the bottom of the dialog box.
Choose the size of the segments that match the size of the media you will be copying the segments to after the segmenting process is done.
5) Click “Segment”.
6) Select the destination for your first segment.
This destination can be your hard drive or a floppy disk.
7) Click “Save”.
If you chose a floppy disk as the destination, you may be promtped to insert floppy disks as needed.
How to Join Segments
If you segmented a file or archive and did not choose the self-extracting option, you must use the “Join...” command to restore the segments. You must have all the segments to be able to recreate the original file.
1) Run StuffIt Lite.
2) Select the “Join…” submenu from “Segmenting” under the Translate menu. You will be asked to find the first segment.
2) Tell StuffIt Lite where the first segment is (insert the diskette if that’s where the segment resides).
3) Select the segment with the “.1” suffix and click “Join”.
A Save dialog box appears, prompting you where to save the joined file.
4) Once you’ve picked the location for the joined file, click “Save.”
You may be asked to find each of the other segments in sequence, depending on whether your segments are on multiple floppies or reside in different places on your hard drive.
When the join is complete, you will have the original file.
An Easier Alternative to StuffIt Lite Joining
There is an alternative way of joining segments, using Aladdin’s StuffIt Expander (freeware) and DropStuff with Expander Enhancer (shareware). When both StuffIt Expander and DropStuff with Expander Enhancer are installed, just drag and drop a segment onto StuffIt Expander, and segments will be automatically joined in sequence. Remember that both Expander and DropStuff with Expander Enhancer are also part of the StuffIt Deluxe package (yet another great reason to upgrade to Deluxe ;-).
