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General discussion

Dmg.spanned files

Jan 21, 2010 12:41AM PST

Hi

I have a dmg.spanned file on my Macbook that I am trying to open but it asks me to choose an application to open it with which I don't have.

Could anyone tell me what I should download and install in order to open my dmg.spanned file?

Many thanks

Discussion is locked

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Not seen one of these,
Jan 21, 2010 6:06AM PST

but they "should" just open when double clicked. The software to do this is already loaded as part of OS X.

Try the free Stuffit Expander if all else fails.

Where did this file come from ? It is a little unusual to come across one

P

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Stuffit Expander for spannes files
Jan 21, 2010 8:58AM PST

Hi thanks for the reply

I installed Stuffit Expander and tried to open the dmg.spanned file but it doesn't open it giving me this:

The file ".dmg.spanned" does not appear to be compressed or encoded. It is advised that you obtain further information about the contents of this file from the sender or provider of the file.

I got this file from a friend with important stuff I want to install on my Mac. I agree I haven't come across a file like this myself, hence the trouble I am facing.

Is there anything else please you can suggest?

Many thanks

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could not find a solution for Mac
Jan 21, 2010 5:02PM PST

I would ask your friend (probably they are on PC) to save it as a compatible format.

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Mac not PC
Jan 22, 2010 12:24AM PST

Hi there

No it is actually meant to be opened on a Mac and my friend whom I am not in touch with could open it apparently without any problems but I don't know how he did it and I can't get hold of him.

It is a bit frustrating that this file can't be opened as it's so important to me

Any idea who I should turn to when facing problems like these?

Many thanks Happy

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if you remove the suffix "spanned"
Jan 22, 2010 2:27AM PST

maybe the built-in disk mounter would recognize it? It is a very weird suffix anyway (dmg.spanned).

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DiskImageMounter
Jan 22, 2010 9:12AM PST

I think it should open with the built-in DiskImageMounter. Try setting the "Open with" option to this app.

Look for it in:

/System/Library/CoreServices/

Also, the spanned indicator implies that there should be more than 1 file that's part of the disk image. Do you have more than 1 file? If not, you may have a problem regardless.

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Nothing works
Jan 23, 2010 1:34AM PST

Thanks guys for your replies

I have tried everything and still no success..grrr

The icon for my files is that of the Terminal. I don't know if I could open it from there, I tried with 'ls' and then the file name but it didn't work

Where should I escalate this matter to ?

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no idea how to solve it.
Jan 23, 2010 3:56AM PST

Just for the record: if the computer does not understand, which app should open the file/image, etc. It always assigns it a Terminal icon and calls it "UNIX executable file".

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Escalate the problem
Jan 23, 2010 6:21AM PST

to the person who sent/gave you the file in the first place.

As you may have noticed, there is a severe shortage of people who have even seen one of these files, let alone opened one.

P

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HELP
Jun 10, 2011 1:49AM PDT

Hi there !

I have exactly the same problem with a .dmg.spanned file...
Have you sorted out the problem ?

THANKS

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Same advice applies to you,
Jun 10, 2011 9:21AM PDT

go back to the original sender and have them redo it.