werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (09/07/88)
I just saw an add for Copy II Mac PLUS which seems to indicate that this new version also includes a defragmenting utility (probably working much like the SUM-utility) but I have not seen or heard anything more about it. now, to compare SUM's HD-TuneUp and DiskExpress: HD-TuneUp will scan the disk and de-fragement all those fragmented files, for which a sufficiently large free contiguous disk-segment is available; fragmented files which are too large to get defragmented - stay fragmented (unfortunately, those are often the most important files you'd like to see defragmented, such as your System file). This program was developed, because DiskExpress is a rather dangerous program to use (see below) which caused a good percentage of the "broken" disks which even ZAP could not help you recover much from (I lived through a crisis like that ONCE - and I reported about it to this forum then). DiskExpress (1.10 was the last version I had looked at) not only can defragment all files, but also make all free space contiguous. The problem is that it does that in a way which a) is very slow b) seems to leave the hole disk in an unusable state during most of this process, which means that should the program crash for any reason (or a power-failure should occur) the disk has to be restored completely from a back-up (you DO have a recent backup?!) here are my thoughts on the best way to deal with the fragmentation (and backup problem) at the moment: FIRST, determine how much free space you have on your hard disk and the fragmentation index and the identity of the fragmented files (beats me at this moment which utilities are best for this purpose). SECOND, decide if you have a fragmentation problem which needs to be rectified. THIRD, if you have only very little free space on your hard disk (several megabytes, at least), backup a few files to floppy and remove them from the hard disk to create space to work with. FOURTH, run HD-TuneUp, and try to catch the names of the files which it CANNOT defragment; if you miss some yuo can simply run the program again to get all file-names. FIFTH, make sure you have an up-to-date backup of your hard-disk!! ((-: SIXTH, backup the files which are still fragmented to floppy and remove them from the hard disk (this allows DiskExpress to run faster and "cleaner", i.e. less likely to cause you head-aches). An incremental backup program keeps you sane (especially if you have a large disk). SEVENTH, run DiskExpress and go home home for the day (or for a long break, at least; depends on the size of your hard disk, of course) EIGHTH, restore any files you temporarily moved to floppy to make the above process faster/safer. NOTE: steps 3, 5, 6 and 8 are optional of course.... Comments, anyone? -- --------------------> PREFERED-RETURN-ADDRESS-FOLLOWS <--------------------- (ARPA) werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Internet: 128.83.144.1) (INTERNET) werner%rascal.ics.utexas.edu@cs.utexas.edu (UUCP) ..!utastro!werner or ..!uunet!rascal.ics.utexas.edu!werner
rdsesq@Jessica.stanford.edu (Rob Snevely) (09/09/88)
Thanx to everyone who posted and sent e-mail. Not having disk express I finally decided to back up the HD and reformat. I went to my dealer (Computer Attic) to make sure I had the right Utils for my HD (a Seagate 60 meg). I did not. They did not give me the right utils in the first place. I finally got the right utils and it included a partition util. Needless to say I was not thrilled with finding this out this late in the game. However everything worked out fine. If you need to partition your HD. Make a backup and reformat the drive then partition it. It seems easier and less of a headache. This is my opinion. It may not work in every case but if it is possible it seems the easist way. Again Many thanx to all, rob snevely rdsesq@jessica.stanford.edu
clive@drutx.ATT.COM (Clive Steward) (09/09/88)
From article <3082@utastro.UUCP>, by werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig):
>[many worries and steps]
While I'm sure being bitten by a failure during disk reordering wasn't
fun, it's really no different from other forms of disk failure, is it?
If you have a backup, you use it.
I've (and it seems many others) used Disk Express for years, and found
it to work perfectly. And it's extended capabilities seem important.
As you say, the long files are the most necessary ones, and Disk Express
does them all. Perhaps even more important, Disk Express reorders system,
application, and document files for efficient use with the resource scheme
which is key to the Mac.
The end result is that slow disks (20/30 meg, without the voice coil
seek technology) run quite noticeably more quickly. Worth it.
Incidentally, so is use of the Mac's disk caching; 32k helps, 64-18k
seems ideal, according to tests I made when I used one of these disks.
Clive