ianr@gpark.pub.uu.oz.au (Ian Rowlands) (11/14/90)
Has anybody used Quarterback Tools? I'd like to know more about it.
What exactly does it do? How easy is it to use? How does it perform
compared to other disk optimizers (e.g B.A.D)? Most importantly, is it worth
having for the price (the price I was given was $90US retail)?
E-mail any replies please. If you want a summary, e-mail me to
request one. I'll post one if I can't be bothered replying to all who
request a summary.
Ian
P.S. DON'T use the 'from' address to reply - use the 'reply-to' address or
the one in the .sig
Ian Rowlands - Elec. Engineering/Comp.Sc. student, University of Melbourne
Internet/Acsnet/Pubnet : labtam!eyrie!gpark!ianr@munnari.oz.au
OR : ianr@gpark.pub.uu.oz.au
UUCP Address : ...!uunet!munnari!labtam!eyrie!gpark!ianr
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (11/15/90)
ianr@gpark.pub.uu.oz.au (Ian Rowlands) in <18351b35.ARN0d9b@gpark.pub.uu.oz.au> asks: Has anybody used Quarterback Tools? I'd like to know more about it. What exactly does it do? How easy is it to use? How does it perform compared to other disk optimizers (e.g B.A.D)? Most importantly, is it worth having for the price (the price I was given was $90US retail)? On a flyer I received yesterday from Central Coast Software describing their QUARTERBACK TOOLS product is listed: -- Repositions your files to optimum locations on the disk -- Eliminates file fragmentation -- Consolidates free disk space -- Recovers deleted files easily and safely -- "Unformats" disks you formatted by mistake -- Searches the file system for error, marks bad areas "out of service" and identifies affected files -- Finds and fixes corrupted directories (drawers) -- Reformats all types of disks for new or old Amiga filing systems -- Cures disk validation problems and key checksum errors -- Provides an AREXX interface for "power users" Considering how pleased I am with their "QUARTERBACK" program, I didn't hesitate to order a copy of "QUARTERBACK TOOLS" earlier today from Central Coast Software (BTW, their new address is 424 Vista Ave.; Golden CO 80401; phone 303/526-1030). To give you an idea how much confidence I place in QUARTERBACK, it's the progra m I used to backup over 1GB on my system, reformat ALL the HDs (with the newer FFS and rigid boot block), then restored the entire backup without a hitch. And QUARTERBACK operates fine with tape drives, too. Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]
rolee@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Profess'nal Agitator) (11/16/90)
Here's another question for QB Tools users?
B.A.D. has two defrag options, one for WB and one for CLI. Does the QB
optimizer have this same "feature" or not? According to the B.A.D. manual,
AmigaDOS is written so that the two formats of WB vs. CLI have different
file structures. Thus, it would seem as if it is only possible to optimize
for one environment or the other. This is what B.A.D. says and I'm curious
about the validity of that statement.
If this is true, it would be pretty annoying since there are very few disks
that I use that are wholly CLI or wholly WB.
Agitator
#->
--
"Caltech -- A Division of rolee@jarthur.claremont.edu // InterNet
Harvey Mudd" rolee@hmcvax.bitnet // BITNET
-------------- R E M E M B E R B E I J I N G -------\\-//-------------
Roderick Lee "The Professional Agitator" Harvey \X/ Mudd Collegethad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (11/16/90)
rolee@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Profess'nal Agitator)
in <9654@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> writes:
B.A.D. has two defrag options, one for WB and one for CLI. Does the
QB optimizer have this same "feature" or not? According to the B.A.D.
manual, AmigaDOS is written so that the two formats of WB vs. CLI have
different file structures. Thus, it would seem as if it is only
possible to optimize for one environment or the other. This is what
B.A.D. says and I'm curious about the validity of that statement.
Dunno 'bout QB Tools' optimizer yet (just ordered it, though I noticed the
local dealer, HT Electronics, has it already in stock today), but as I demo'd
at a FAUG meeting last year using Leo Schwab's "fm" program (see below), what
B.A.D. does is "optimize" the placement of either the *.info files (for WB use)
or the user-directory/file-header blocks (for CLI use). The optimization puts
one or the other items contiguously on one sector(s) so that they can all be
read with minimal disk-drive head motion.
B.A.D.'s optimization is quite effective, and everyone in the audience got
a good laugh when I displayed (using "fm") the file layout of a "stock"
Workbench 1.3 disk from Commodore, then showed the optimizations performed
by B.A.D., and THEN booted using the "stock" and the B.A.D.'ed disk ... the
difference was like night and day (favoring the B.A.D.'ed disk).
Now, as for the "fm" program, here's the original info (yeah, this goes back
a long while, and even Leo was surprised that anyone even remembered the
program; it's my philosophy that I'd rather have something and not need it
than to need something and not have it ... which is why I archive literally
everything onto more than 5,000 floppies and over 1GB HD); in any event:
From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga
Subject: fm.c (File Map Utility)
Date: 17 Sep 86 05:09:36 GMT
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Organization: Whole Earth Lectronic Link, Sausalito CA
Lines: 943
Keywords: file, disk, sector, map, cardboard
Summary: Pretty neat, if I do say so myself.
This little toy is designed to allow you to examine the sector
allocation on your disks. Instead of using the DOS to find files, it
uses the trackdisk.device and examines the sectors directly,
traversing the filesystem "by hand."
And it can also be found on Fish Disk #36.
Which brings me to a rambling comment concerning some archives sites removing
"old" Fish Disks ... DON'T. Some of the MOST valuable code examples for the
Amiga can be found on early Fish Disks (i.e. #5). The program I cited above
is on Fish Disk #36, and just yesterday I referred someone to Fish Disk #79
for the source to Chuck McManis' "INFO" clone. Just because something may
have been written 4, 5 or 6 years ago does NOT make it obsolete ... in fact,
some of the early programs were so good that no-one has been able to improve
upon them. Even most of the early Usenet Amiga discussions from mid-1985 are
still valuable today (which is why I've kept those archives all these years).
Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]mhenders@hydra.unm.edu (Stinger) (11/17/90)
But BEWARE! You must make sure you order the LATEST version
of QB Tools. The very first release often locked up in the middle of
reorganizing drives with the A2091, 2091 and Trumpcards. Needless to
say the drives were completely unusable after that. The new version
is corrected and should provide no problems. It seems to function
quite well.
--
.---- << Amiga Weirdo >> ///|
\ __/_ ' .--. .--. .-. .--. << Demo Freak >> ///||
\ / / / / <__/ /__/ / << mhenders@hydra.unm.edu >> \\\///=||
____>/ / / / ___/ <__ / << Computer Hypochondriac >> \XX/ || stan@phx.mcd.mot.com (Stan Fisher) (11/17/90)
In article <35956@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: >ianr@gpark.pub.uu.oz.au (Ian Rowlands) in <18351b35.ARN0d9b@gpark.pub.uu.oz.au> >asks: ** stuff about QuarterBack tools deleted** >I used to backup over 1GB on my system, reformat ALL the HDs (with the newer >FFS and rigid boot block), then restored the entire backup without a hitch. >And QUARTERBACK operates fine with tape drives, too. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ] Could you elaborate on that please? Just what tape drives have you used it on? I thought QuarterBack only talked to "filesystem" type devices... So you'd need a tape drive that emulated a filesystem or a driver that made that translation. In other words can it talk to a SCSI direct (scsi.device) type tape? Stan Fisher - stan@teroach.phx.mcd.mot.com - asuvax!mcdphx!teroach!stan Motorola Microcomputer Division, Tempe, Arizona - Voice (602) 438-3228
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (11/17/90)
teroach!stan@phx.mcd.mot.com (Stan Fisher) in <14056@mcdphx.phx.mcd.mot.com> writes: >FFS and rigid boot block), then restored the entire backup without >a hitch. >And QUARTERBACK operates fine with tape drives, too. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Could you elaborate on that please? Just what tape drives have you used it on? I thought QuarterBack only talked to "filesystem" type devices... So you'd need a tape drive that emulated a filesystem or a driver that made that translation. In other words can it talk to a SCSI direct (scsi.device) type tape? You guessed correctly re: SCSI direct. As I thought was already known, the SCSI direct doesn't work well with most interfaces on the Amiga except for the 2091, the A3000, and the Supra. Others "may" work, but I haven't heard of anyone else's success in this regards. Hey, don't feel bad, Apple can't get tapes working with their A/UX on the Mac either; just take a gander over at comp.unix.aux and read all the gripes! :-) The guy who designed the "Bodega Bay" did the first Amiga tape device driver (to my knowledge), and it works with the 3M 40MB tape units that were recently liquidated by HSC in Santa Clara, CA (and use the DC2000 tape cartridges). As soon as he returns the docs to me, I'll be able to check out a Fujitsu tape unit which uses the 190MB ANSI 1/2" tape cartridges. Also, Bob Rethemeyer (author of the ORIGINAL "QMouse" (whose sources I again reposted recently)) authored the BTNtape handler which appeared in the Amiga binaries or sources distribution not too long ago; his software also works with the same 3M 40MB tape units. Ah, those were a "steal" at $125 each, at HSC, brand new; that's what caused the renewed interest in tape drives for the Amiga here in Silicon Valley. And I'm working on the Archive 60MB SCSI tape unit which uses the DC600A tape cartridges so I can exchange data with my 3B1 and other systems since, due to its humongous disk capacity, my lab Amiga has been the repository of all my Internet and Usenet software forays. IF (and that's a *B*I*G* "if") everything works out, I "may" be demo'ing some tape stuff at the December FAUG meeting. Though I joke about it, I am NOT pleased having to use 1,604 floppies to back up my system. At least the A3000 has on-board SCSI and sufficient space for memory, so most problems with schlock 3rd party hardware vendors will eventually go away. And I'm very disappointed CBM hasn't seen fit to provide Amiga tape (and other) support. [ And before anyone flames that last sentence, REMEMBER: if I cannot walk up to a dealer, lay down cash, and walk out with the object of my desires, then it simply doesn't exist.] Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]
lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (11/17/90)
In <36018@cup.portal.com>, thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: > >And I'm working on the Archive 60MB SCSI tape unit which uses the DC600A tape >cartridges so I can exchange data with my 3B1 and other systems since, due to >its humongous disk capacity, my lab Amiga has been the repository of all my >Internet and Usenet software forays. Your 3B1 should accept tar files, right? Markus Wandel's tape handler and Jonathan Hue's tar work just fine. I transfer stuff to and from Sun systems with it all the time. -larry -- The only things to survive a nuclear war will be cockroaches and IBM PCs. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (11/18/90)
Re; QBTools
I bought it, and took it back the same day. B.A.D. does just fine on my
Tiny-Tiger HD, while QBTools told me (1) that my FFS HD was the old file
system (B.A.D. recognises it as FFS) and (2) that EVERY file on my HD was
corrupted. Hmph, I said, and took it back. Got my cash refund, too.
fhwri
--Rick Wrigley
fhwri@conncoll.bitnetes1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) (11/18/90)
In article <36649@nigel.ee.udel.edu> fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes: >Re; QBTools > >I bought it, and took it back the same day. B.A.D. does just fine on my >Tiny-Tiger HD, while QBTools told me (1) that my FFS HD was the old file >system (B.A.D. recognises it as FFS) and (2) that EVERY file on my HD was >corrupted. Hmph, I said, and took it back. Got my cash refund, too. >fhwri > --Rick Wrigley > fhwri@conncoll.bitnet Did you have version 1.2 or the original 1.0 of QBTools? Apparently 1.0 was horribly buggy and most things were fixed in 1.2 which has been available for 1-2 weeks now. -- Ethan If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which he has inflicted upon men, He would kill himself. -- Alexandre Dumas Which is it: is man one of God's blunders, or is God one of man's blunders? -- Nietzsche They're JOKES! Lighten up! 8) Flames will be ignored.
david@starsoft.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) (11/18/90)
In article <1990Nov16.195248.7046@ariel.unm.edu>, Stinger writes: > > But BEWARE! You must make sure you order the LATEST version > of QB Tools. The very first release often locked up in the middle of > reorganizing drives with the A2091, 2091 and Trumpcards. Needless to > say the drives were completely unusable after that. The new version > is corrected and should provide no problems. It seems to function > quite well. Can you tell us how to distinguish between the "First" version and the "current" version? I would kind-of like to know. :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These words be mine. The company doesn't care, because I am the company! :-) Dave Lowrey | david@starsoft or {uhnix1,lobster}!starsoft!david Starbound Software Group | Houston, TX | "Dare to be stupid!" -- Weird Al Yankovic
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (11/18/90)
lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) in <2237@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca>
writes:
Your 3B1 should accept tar files, right? Markus Wandel's tape handler
and Jonathan Hue's tar work just fine. I transfer stuff to and from
Sun systems with it all the time.
Thanks for the above info. What media does(do) Suns accept?
And, yes, the 3B1 accepts tar, cpio, afio, whatever, and the tar on the Amiga
works reasonably well (NO problems reading tar files created elsewhere, it's
just a pain creating them on the Amiga).
I've been "playing" with the GNU tar-1.09, but still have some more BSD-isms
to "correct."
Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (11/19/90)
In <36049@cup.portal.com>, thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: >lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) in <2237@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> >writes: > > Your 3B1 should accept tar files, right? Markus Wandel's tape handler > and Jonathan Hue's tar work just fine. I transfer stuff to and from > Sun systems with it all the time. > >Thanks for the above info. What media does(do) Suns accept? There's a few different media that are acceptable. I am using an Archive Viper (60 meg, QIC-11 or QIC-24) cartridge drive, and it works just fine. Another option is the 150 meg drives. Suns use the Archive Scorpion drive, and the data is in QIC-150 format. >And, yes, the 3B1 accepts tar, cpio, afio, whatever, and the tar on the Amiga >works reasonably well (NO problems reading tar files created elsewhere, it's >just a pain creating them on the Amiga). I haven't had much problem with the tar I have. It's a port by Jonathan Hue, and has a patch that fixes something to do with the date. -larry -- The only things to survive a nuclear war will be cockroaches and IBM PCs. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
mhenders@carina.unm.edu (Stinger) (11/19/90)
Well, the easiest (hmmm?) way to tell is that the program locks
up on nearly all of the screens if it is the screwed up version. Read the
text files on the diskette to see which version you have. If you get no
info on version there, just load the program and do the drive info 4
or 5 times. If the program doesn't lock up (and after you've BACKED UP
your HD) try the re-organization.
--
.---- << Amiga Weirdo >> ///|
\ __/_ ' .--. .--. .-. .--. << Demo Freak >> ///||
\ / / / / <__/ /__/ / << mhenders@hydra.unm.edu >> \\\///=||
____>/ / / / ___/ <__ / << Computer Hypochondriac >> \XX/ || paul@wa1omm.UUCP (Paul MacDonald) (11/21/90)
>In article <36649@nigel.ee.udel.edu> fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes: >Re; QBTools > >I bought it, and took it back the same day. B.A.D. does just fine on my >Tiny-Tiger HD, while QBTools told me (1) that my FFS HD was the old file >system (B.A.D. recognises it as FFS) and (2) that EVERY file on my HD was >corrupted. Hmph, I said, and took it back. Got my cash refund, too. I believe most (if not all) problems were corrected with V1.2a. -- /\ /\ //\\//\\ +---------^^^^------------------^^^^---------+ | From the shack of WA1OMM -- Paul MacDonald | | Using the power of the multitasking Amiga! | | | | Compuserve: 70411,626 PLink: UPPERCRUST | | Amateur Packet Radio: WA1OMM@KB4N.NH.USA | | Usenet: ...virgin!ubbs-nh!wa1omm!paul | +--------------------------------------------+ /\ / /\ (~ / / / / /\ /\ / / / / V /~~\ _) /~/ /_/ /~~\ , / V /~/
chem194@canterbury.ac.nz (John Davis, programmer at large, chemistry department) (11/23/90)
In article <paul.4834@wa1omm.UUCP>, paul@wa1omm.UUCP (Paul MacDonald) writes: >>In article <36649@nigel.ee.udel.edu> fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes: >>Re; QBTools >> >>I bought it, and took it back the same day. B.A.D. does just fine on my >>Tiny-Tiger HD, while QBTools told me (1) that my FFS HD was the old file >>system (B.A.D. recognises it as FFS) and (2) that EVERY file on my HD was >>corrupted. Hmph, I said, and took it back. Got my cash refund, too. > > I believe most (if not all) problems were corrected with V1.2a. Seems not - a local dealer just got in QBtools 1.2a and I went down to have a look at it. He admitted that when he'd tried to use the optimise option on their 2500 (with a 2090a and a scsi hd) it'd died, and offered to let me try it on my machine, with the option to return it if it didn't work (the main thing I want qbtools for is optimising the hd - don't often have problems with corrupted drives). Anyway, tried it on my own 2500 (again a 2090a controller but an st506 drive) and got the same thing - optimisation starts, but then qbtools corrupts the screen and dies. This is irrespective of being on the 68000 or 030, and regardless of what I have in my startup-sequence ( believe me - tried, I _really_ want to optimise my hd :-( ). In the end I had to give up and returned it - I gather it just doesn't like 2090s ... very odd indeed (like they're a pretty common controller, you'd have thought central coast would have tested it) ----------------------------------------------------------- | o John Davis - CHEM194@canterbury.ac.nz o | | o (Depart)mental Programmer,Chemistry Department o | | o University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand o | | o o | | o co-sysop AmigaINFO BBS,1200/2400 baud CCITT, o | | o 24 hours a day, ph NZ +3-3371-531 o |
nad@tegra.COM (Nancy Durgin) (11/29/90)
In article <1990Nov23.172323.9970@canterbury.ac.nz> chem194@canterbury.ac.nz (John Davis, programmer at large, chemistry department) writes: >In article <paul.4834@wa1omm.UUCP>, paul@wa1omm.UUCP (Paul MacDonald) writes: >>>In article <36649@nigel.ee.udel.edu> fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes: >> >> I believe most (if not all) problems were corrected with V1.2a. > > [problems with QBTools 1.2a and 2090a/ST-506 drives] > >In the end I had to give up and returned it - I gather it just doesn't >like 2090s ... very odd indeed (like they're a pretty common controller, >you'd have thought central coast would have tested it) > I can confirm that. I have a 2090 controller and an ST-506 drive, and the optimize function yielded spectacular crashes for me, too. Everything else seemed to work alright... This was under 1.3 on a 2000, with QBTools v1.2 (I didn't notice that it was 1.2a, so perhaps mine isn't the latest version?). I have pretty good faith that CCS will fix the problem, so I'm not ready to give up on the program yet (and the recover/repair options will probably be more useful to me, in general, than the optimize functions). Nancy -- ============================================================================== Nancy Durgin | (Usual disclaimers | Tegra-Varityper, Inc. tegra!nad@uunet.com | apply...) | Billerica, Massachusetts ==============================================================================
jdutka@wpi.WPI.EDU (John Dutka) (11/29/90)
In article <1785@joker.tegra.COM> nad@joker.UUCP (Nancy Durgin) writes: > >I can confirm that. I have a 2090 controller and an ST-506 drive, and >the optimize function yielded spectacular crashes for me, too. Everything >else seemed to work alright... This was under 1.3 on a 2000, with QBTools >v1.2 (I didn't notice that it was 1.2a, so perhaps mine isn't the latest >version?). Luckily, there have been no problems with my 3000 and QBack Tools... I've been using it for a little while now, and no crashes or hard-drive killings yet... -- | husc6!m2c!wpi!jdutka | "Hey, baby - wanna do some HEAT TRANSFER? | | jdutka@wpi.wpi.edu | Heh, heh, heh!" | | John Dutka, Jr. | -Mechanical Engineers On The Prowl | | jdutka%wpi.wpi.edu%mitvma.bitnet __________________________________________| -- | husc6!m2c!wpi!jdutka | "Hey, baby - wanna do some HEAT TRANSFER? | | jdutka@wpi.wpi.edu | Heh, heh, heh!" | | John Dutka, Jr. | -Mechanical Engineers On The Prowl |