sondeen@venera.isi.edu (Jeff Sondeen) (07/11/90)
This request concerns the relative merit of using defragmenting
programs compared to just restoring from ZOO or PKZIP backups. That
is, given that the defragment program recommends you first do a backup
(and believe me this is handly as REFORMAT15 chewed up my Dos 3.3
32Meg C: files), why not just del *.* after the ZOO/PKZIP save (having
saved with directories stored) and then restore from the save -- eg:
c:
zoo a d:allfiles *.*
del *.*
zoo x// d:allfiles
I've done this and it seems to have defragmented the files, in less than
the 30 minutes claimed for REFORMAT to run on 32 Megs. Thanks, /jeff
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"Oh, well, I guess this is just going to be one of those lifetimes."joe@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu (Joseph T. Rohde) (07/11/90)
In article <14236@venera.isi.edu> sondeen@isi.edu (Jeff Sondeen) writes: >This request concerns the relative merit of using defragmenting >programs compared to just restoring from ZOO or PKZIP backups. That ... >c: >zoo a d:allfiles *.* >del *.* >zoo x// d:allfiles >I've done this and it seems to have defragmented the files, in less than >the 30 minutes claimed for REFORMAT to run on 32 Megs. Thanks, /jeff ... Well for starters, not everyone has 30 Meg free on another drive. Also, other defraggers are much much faster only defragging the file that are not already contiguous and then bubbling the free space on the disk. Done once a week on an average system it only takes about 5 minutes for me. Joe -- :-------------------- rohde@eng.ohio-state.edu ------------------: : He's dead Jim, you get his tri-corder, I'll get his wallet : :------------------------------------------------------------------:
jdudeck@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (John R. Dudeck) (07/11/90)
In an article sondeen@isi.edu (Jeff Sondeen) wrote: >This request concerns the relative merit of using defragmenting >programs compared to just restoring from ZOO or PKZIP backups. That >is, given that the defragment program recommends you first do a backup >(and believe me this is handly as REFORMAT15 chewed up my Dos 3.3 >32Meg C: files), why not just del *.* after the ZOO/PKZIP save (having >saved with directories stored) and then restore from the save -- eg: >c: >zoo a d:allfiles *.* >del *.* >zoo x// d:allfiles >I've done this and it seems to have defragmented the files, in less than >the 30 minutes claimed for REFORMAT to run on 32 Megs. Thanks, /jeff There is nothing really *wrong* with doing it this way. It does defragment your files. But it seems inconvenient to me. That may be because I have an 80-meg disk with about 60 megs of files. Here are the things that come to mind: - using zip or zoo to do your backups seems slower and less reliable than Fastback Plus or one of its competitors - you have to stick the diskettes in twice, once to do the backup, and once to restore. With a defragmenter, you can just let it run. - during the time that your files are del *.*'d from your hard disk, you have one less copy in existence, and run the risk that your backup may be bad. - I don't know about REFORMAT, but Norton Speed Disk puts your directories on your hard disk in an order that improves disk access times over what you would get by restoring them from backups. -- John Dudeck "I always ask them, How well do jdudeck@Polyslo.CalPoly.Edu you want it tested?" ESL: 62013975 Tel: 805-545-9549 -- D. Stearns