[comp.sys.mac] What causes System files to suddenly grow huge?

ajq@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley) (02/08/89)

Some time ago there was a discussion about System files which grew to huge
sizes seemingly without cause.

Well, we've got a couple of Mac II's that have had this happen recently.
We've already replaced the files, but I don't remember what causes this
problem.  Could someone mail me the details along with any suggestions you
have to avoid this happening again?


John O'Malley           / Macintosh  / Purdue University / (317)
mace.cc.purdue.edu!ajq / Specialist / Computing Center  / 494-1787

david@jc3b21.UUCP (David Quarles) (02/09/89)

From article <1649@mace.cc.purdue.edu>, by ajq@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley):
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 
> Some time ago there was a discussion about System files which grew to huge
> sizes seemingly without cause.
> 
> Well, we've got a couple of Mac II's that have had this happen recently.
> We've already replaced the files, but I don't remember what causes this
> problem.  Could someone mail me the details along with any suggestions you
> have to avoid this happening again?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I just returned from the 9th Annual Florida Instructional Computing
Conference in Orlando, Florida.

One of the presenters at this conference, Dr. Dennis Dormady, discussed
something like this in his presentation ... he called them WARTS.  They
attach themselves to a file and just grow, some are benign, some are
not.  Could this be your situation ???

This was an outstanding conference, BTW !!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dave =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= EOT

ajq@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley) (02/09/89)

In article <568@jc3b21.UUCP> david@jc3b21.UUCP (David Quarles) writes:
>From article <1649@mace.cc.purdue.edu>, by ajq@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley):
>> Some time ago there was a discussion about System files which grew to huge
>> sizes seemingly without cause.
>
>One of the presenters at this conference, Dr. Dennis Dormady, discussed
>something like this in his presentation ... he called them WARTS.  They
>attach themselves to a file and just grow, some are benign, some are
>not.  Could this be your situation ???

I dunno!  The problematic Macintoshes weren't under my control, so I didn't
get a chance to examine the files.  But the symptoms seemed similar ...
the System files just got huge (on the order of megabytes) without reason.  No
fonts, DAs, or whatever were added.

Did Dr. Dormady say what caused these "WARTS," and did he provide any
method to prevent them?  (Sounds like we need some kinda Compound-W for the
Mac  :-)


John O'Malley           / Macintosh  / Purdue University / (317)
mace.cc.purdue.edu!ajq / Specialist / Computing Center  / 494-1787