tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) (10/06/87)
Does anybody out there use "Disk Express"? Did you notice a large improvement
in disk speed and/or a lot more disk space? Is is hazardous to use with
System/Finder 4.1/5.5 on a SE HD20? Does it butt heads with any of your
other applications?
Thanks for any info!
-Ted ("Enquiring minds want to know." --People Magazine)
******************************************************************
Ted C. Johnson
Hewlett-Packard, Design Technology Center
Santa Clara, CA
(408)553-3555
UUCP: ...hplabs!hpcea!hpcid!tedj
*****************************************************************chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (10/08/87)
>Does anybody out there use "Disk Express"? Did you notice a large improvement >in disk speed and/or a lot more disk space? Is is hazardous to use with >System/Finder 4.1/5.5 on a SE HD20? Does it butt heads with any of your >other applications? I use Disk Express on a Paradise 10 (soon to be a jasmine 20...) running 4.0/5.4 [yes, I know I should upgrade. I keep wiating for finder 6.0]. It definitely speeds things up noticeably. It is also nice to know that my disk isn't getting little blocks of crud, and it is worth it just to be able to clear all of the extra stuff out of the Desktop file (you wouldn't believe how much faster that makes Finder....). I've never had a glitch out of it. Highly recommended. chuq Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Editor, OtherRealms Delphi: CHUQ Bye bye life! Bye bye happiness! Hello, loneliness, I think I'm gonna die.
singer@endor.harvard.edu (Richard Siegel) (10/08/87)
In article <870002@hpcilzb.HP.COM> tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) writes: >Does anybody out there use "Disk Express"? Did you notice a large improvement I use DiskExpress all the time, without troubles. The only thing you need to watch out for is copy-protected applications; some of them will barf if you try to use them after optimizing your disk, but this happens only on floppies, not on hard disks. I notice some improvement; it's not massive, but it is noticeable. I've had no problems using DE on a Mac Plus with Apple HD20SC, HD20, DataFrame XP, Mac SE with accelerator card and DataFrame XP, Mac II with DataFrame XP, and Mac II with various Apple SC hard disks. Caveats: Back up your hard disk IMMEDIATELY before you use DE. If the power goes off, or something crashes while an optimization is in progress, your hard disk will be TRASHED. Trust me. It happened to me once. Otherwise, it's a great program. --Rich **The opinions stated herein are my own opinions and do not necessarily represent the policies or opinions of my employer (THINK Technologies, Inc). * Richard M. Siegel | {decvax, ucbvax, sun}!harvard!endor!singer * * Customer Support | singer@endor.harvard.edu * * THINK Technologies, Inc. (No snappy quote) *
cm450s02@uhccux.UUCP (jeff t. segawa) (10/08/87)
In article <870002@hpcilzb.HP.COM> tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) writes: >Does anybody out there use "Disk Express"? Did you notice a large improvement >in disk speed and/or a lot more disk space? Is is hazardous to use with >System/Finder 4.1/5.5 on a SE HD20? Does it butt heads with any of your >other applications? > I've never tried DiskExpress on an SE, but I've used it a lot with a Mac Plus with CMS hard disk, and a Mac II with same. No problems at all. The documentation warns that it should not be used while there is any copy protected stuff on the hard disk, though. The only 'danger' I can think of is that DiskExpress spends as much as 1 hour reading and writing info to the hard disk (when you've got a pretty full 20 meg drive), so if the power should fail during these opererations, who knows what will happen to your data? I've got a standby power supply hooked up to my Mac, so I don't worry about this anymore. I don't notice a great speed increase, but then again, I run DiskExpress a LOT. I've noticed that since I've started using it, unexplained system errors have ceased to be a problem. You will be shocked when you see just how fragmented some of your floppies really are. The desktop rebuilds much faster on these, after D.E. is used.
straka@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Straka) (10/09/87)
In article <928@uhccux.UUCP> cm450s02@uhccux.UUCP (jeff t. segawa) writes: >In article <870002@hpcilzb.HP.COM> tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) writes: >>Does anybody out there use "Disk Express"? Did you notice a large improvement >system errors have ceased to be a problem. You will be shocked when you see >just how fragmented some of your floppies really are. The desktop >rebuilds much faster on these, after D.E. is used. I'm sure the above are true, but if you want to de-fragment floppies only, I would assume that a finder copy (files dragged to disk, not disk dragged to disk?) to a fresh floppy would have the same sort of effect. -- Rich Straka ihnp4!ihlpf!straka Advice for the day: "MSDOS - just say no."
cheeser@dasys1.UUCP (Les Kay) (10/10/87)
In article <870002@hpcilzb.HP.COM> tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) writes: >Does anybody out there use "Disk Express"? Did you notice a large improvement >in disk speed and/or a lot more disk space? Is is hazardous to use with >System/Finder 4.1/5.5 on a SE HD20? Does it butt heads with any of your >other applications? I've just gotten through using it as a matter of fact - my SE HD20 has only about 4 meg free space on it - disk express was used to: 1) check disk integrity 2) compact the desktop (file) 3) optimize and prioritze file (scrunch and put applications first) 4) zero (actually erase) unused blocks The disk went utterly berserk for about 1 hour and 12 minutes, after which time the program reported about 374k freed up (that is right, three hundred and fourty-seven killobytes). Rebooting the disk, a 1 minute long process (recess?) normally, now takes 12 seconds. Files load faster, but this is less noticeable. Did it clobber anything? Well, the general file - one of the control panel options - was flat out gone. FastKeys (the beta version of QuickKeys) was gone along with the macros (ouch) and the file menuclock no longer worked. As I have some directories with over 200 files on them, and A LOT of stuff overall on the drive - I'd say this was about as good as could be expected short of perfection. None of the other files were damaged in any way, the system runs like a fiend again. The system/finder combo was 5.5/4.1, and it also worked on a system using 6.02b/4.2b10(??not sure about that last one - the current multifinder release). I do not own this program myself, I borrowed it from my sister (manual and original - not pirating)...She has used this on her Mac II with HD40 with no problems. Do I recommend it? I'm going to buy my own copy - what do you think?! cheeser -- =============================================================================== Jonathan Bing, Master (cheeser) ...ihnp4!hoptoad!dasys1!cheeser Time flys like an Arrow, Fruit Flies like Bananas! ===============================================================================
cm450s02@uhccux.UUCP (jeff t. segawa) (10/10/87)
In article <2464@ihlpf.ATT.COM> straka@ihlpf.UUCP (55223-Straka,R.J.) writes: > >I'm sure the above are true, but if you want to de-fragment floppies only, I >would assume that a finder copy (files dragged to disk, not disk dragged to >disk?) to a fresh floppy would have the same sort of effect. Of course you are right, and I don't think anyone actually buys DiskExpress to unfragment thier floppies, but it's a nice added benefit for those of us who have only one floppy disk drive. (and who don't want to copy files from floppy, to hard disk to new floppy, since that will only speed up fragementation of the hard disk.) Someday I'll get myself a second floppy drive; as soon as those 1.6 meg drives come out...
relph@presto.ig.com (John M. Relph) (10/10/87)
Another way to optimize your disk is to back up all of your files onto floppies, re-initialize the hard disk, and then copy your files back onto the disk. This sounds like it takes a long time. It does. And you have to stand there while you do it. However, there are backup programs that will simplify much of the process for you. I use Supermac's DiskFit backup program. DiskFit copies files to floppies using standard format, so you can Finder copy files direct from the backups. However, it keeps information about the desktop along with the files on each diskette so that your hard disk is rebuilt with the same folder information. In order to reduce the overhead caused by the desktop file, I suppose you could manually rebuild the desktop after reloading the files from floppies. -- John Standard disclaimer applies: I have nothing to do with Supermac Technology, but I like their DiskFit program. ---- John M. Relph IntelliGenetics, Inc. 700 East El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA 94040 Internet: relph@bionet-20.arpa
lriggins@afit-ab.arpa (L. Maurice Riggins) (10/11/87)
In article <3640@ig.ig.com> relph@presto.UUCP (John M. Relph) writes: >Another way to optimize your disk is to back up all of your files onto >floppies, re-initialize the hard disk, and then copy your files back >onto the disk. This sounds like it takes a long time. It does. And >you have to stand there while you do it. However, there are backup >programs that will simplify much of the process for you. I use >Supermac's DiskFit backup program. DiskFit copies files to floppies >using standard format, so you can Finder copy files direct from the >backups. However, it keeps information about the desktop along with >the files on each diskette so that your hard disk is rebuilt with the >same folder information. In order to reduce the overhead caused by >the desktop file, I suppose you could manually rebuild the desktop ... (remainder deleted) I tried all that as a cheap alternative to Disk Express...and found my disk running grossly slower! The problem seems to be the many folders I have which begin with a letter before the letter S, as in System Folder. It was backed up toward the end and as a result restored quite a ways out from track 0. Also there was a total mixing of application and document files which were ordered by name -- alphabetically. When I had put the disk together initially, it was system first, then applications, followed by data files, perhaps not totally optimum, but close. Disk Express does this ordering for you...as well as rebuilding the desktop, etc, etc. Looking at the hours I spent, and the end result; not mail-ordering DE for $27-30 was penny-wise and pound-foolish. -- Maurice lriggins@afit-ab.ARPA
tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) (10/16/87)
Once again, thanks for all the info folks! -Ted