How to Ignore Recovery Volumes in Unrar

This guide explains how to prevent the unrar command-line utility from processing or scanning RAR recovery volumes (.rev files) during extraction. By applying the standard exclusion switch, you can instruct the utility to bypass recovery archives entirely, speeding up extraction or preventing unwanted volume reconstruction.

The Command to Ignore Recovery Volumes

To instruct unrar to ignore recovery volumes completely, use the -x (exclude) switch with a wildcard targeting the .rev file extension:

unrar x -x*.rev archive.part01.rar

If you are extracting files to the current working directory without preserving directory structures, use the e command instead:

unrar e -x*.rev archive.part01.rar

How the Switch Works

• -x<pattern>: Tells unrar to exclude any file matching the specified pattern from being opened, processed, or extracted.
• *.rev: Matches all recovery volume files associated with RAR multi-part archives (e.g., archive.part01.rev, archive01.rev).

Batch Extraction Without Recovery Volumes

When extracting multiple archives or using wildcards across a directory, command-line shells may inadvertently pass .rev files directly to the utility. To safely extract all RAR archives while skipping recovery volumes in batch operations, place the exclusion switch before the target pattern:

unrar x -x*.rev *.rar

Keeping Incomplete Files Without Recovery

If you are bypassing recovery volumes because an archive is damaged or missing parts, unrar will typically delete incomplete files upon encountering an error. To retain the partial data without attempting repair, combine the exclude flag with the -kb (keep broken) flag:

unrar x -kb -x*.rev archive.part01.rar