One of the most annoying things about SABnzbd is it’s failure to correctly repair broken downloads – especially when you download multiple repairable files in a single combined NZB. This often stems from SABnzbd not including all relevant par2 and part files during its repair – so the par2 command assumes far more missing files than there actually are. Below I’ll explain a method for easily including all relevant files for a (hopefully) more successful repair.

The Par2 Command

First let’s look at the par2 command:

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$ par2
...
Usage:
 
  par2 c(reate) [options] <par2 file> [files] : Create PAR2 files
  par2 v(erify) [options] <par2 file> [files] : Verify files using PAR2 file
  par2 r(epair) [options] <par2 file> [files] : Repair files using PAR2 files
...

Based on the above we need to call

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par2 r <list of par2 files> <list of mkv parts>

But how do we get those lists?

Your Download

Let’s say I’ve (legally) downloaded of episodes 8 and 9 of MyShow!. My failed download folder might include the following files:

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MyShow! - 08 [720p].mkv.001
MyShow! - 08 [720p].mkv.002
MyShow! - 08 [720p].mkv.003
MyShow! - 08 [720p].mkv.par2
MyShow! - 08 [720p].mkv.vol000+01.par2
MyShow! - 08 [720p].mkv.vol001+02.par2
MyShow! - 09 [720p].mkv.001
MyShow! - 09 [720p].mkv.002
MyShow! - 09 [720p].mkv.003
MyShow! - 09 [720p].mkv.004
MyShow! - 09 [720p].mkv.par2
MyShow! - 09 [720p].mkv.vol000+01.par2
MyShow! - 09 [720p].mkv.vol001+02.par2
MyShow! - 09 [720p].mkv.vol003+04.par2

We want to repair one episode at a time starting with episode 8. Here’s how I’d retrieve lists of just par2 then just the part files:

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# Episode 8
ls *"- 08"*.par2 # Par2 files
ls *"- 08"*.[0-9][0-9][0-9] # Part files
 
# Episode 9
ls *"- 09"*.par2 # Par2 files
ls *"- 09"*.[0-9][0-9][0-9] # Part files

Putting it All Together

Combining par2 with my above lists results in:

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par2 r *"- 08"*.par2 *"- 08"*.[0-9][0-9][0-9] # Ep 8
par2 r *"- 09"*.par2 *"- 09"*.[0-9][0-9][0-9] # Ep 9

You may also need to include *.mkv if that file exists but more often than not I’ve found it doesn’t.

Hope your repairs go a little smoother with this quick tip!