PersianAdmins

Cutting down or splitting a file to several smaller pieces have great benefits. A large file split into several smaller files can easilly fit in a CD or floppy disk or even transferred over the network. Splitting the file is possible using the split command.

Below is an example on how to use the split command:

Using split on a 5.3MB image.iso file:

split -b 1400k image.iso

It will generate 4 files with the following file sizes:

1404k xaa
1404k xab
1404k xac
1208k xad

To recreate the file, the cat command can be
used.

cat xa* > new-image.iso

The split and cat commands are provided by the coreutils package. Once the new new-image.iso file is restored, its possible to delete the other split files.

Note: To verify that the file has been correctly restored, use the command md5sum before and after splitting the file. Syntax: 

md5sum [filename]

source