jlc@atux01.UUCP (Jim Collymore) (12/04/90)
I would appreciate it if any of you out there could give me your first-hand impressions of how useful, and how safe, the program "DiskDoubler" is. Does it really help save space on your hard disk? By how much, roughly? Do programs get damaged when being compacted or uncompacted? Have you had troubel running it on a particular system, machine, file or program? Are you happt with "DiskDoubler?" Please send me e-mail. Thanks. Jim Collymore
fri0@quads.uchicago.edu (Christian E. Fritze) (12/05/90)
While the poster asked for e-mail replies, I'm having difficulty mailing to him, so here goes... Jim: I have been a satified user of DD since the shareware version (1.0 or there abouts). Disk Doubler does indeed save an average of 50% space per file by compaction. I have yet to have a compaction/expansion fail on me, but I believe it to be extremely safe. DD keeps an untouched copy of the file you are compacting/expanding on disk until the process is completed. Only then is the original replaced with the processed version. This means you must have an amount of free space equal to the file size on your disk before attempting the operation (only really an issue on floppies.) I was once a sworn user of Stuff-It, and while I haven't seen the commercial release, DD is much faster than Stuff-It 1.5 on my MacSE. Stuff-It's one advantage is the ability to manipulate archives which contain several compacted files. DD can make and unpack archives but is not as flashy as Stuff-It in this regard. DD also includes functionality which lets you automatically recompress files after each use, unpack Stuff-It and Pack-It formats, and is always available from the Finder. Lastly, I give Salient highest marks for customer service. I have dealt directly with them on a number of occasions and always gotten service above and beyond the call. (By the way, mail order houses now carry DD at almost 50% off the suggested retail: a great deal). Despite my ravings, I am in no way tied to Salient. Just a happy customer who uses the product daily and has no complaints. Cheers. -- Christian E. Fritze | AOL:geneman University of Chicago | fri0@midway.uchicago.edu Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology | "No one ever died of laughing" -M.B. --
wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. Naegeli) (12/06/90)
In article <125@atux01.UUCP> jlc@atux01.UUCP (Jim Collymore) writes: > I would appreciate it if any of you out there could give me your first-hand > impressions of how useful, and how safe, the program "DiskDoubler" is. > > Does it really help save space on your hard disk? By how much, roughly? On the average is saves about 40 to 60 percent, less when compressing certain applications, much more when compressing certain fonts, sounds, HyperCard stacks, image files, etc. We have just converted all the files on our BBS from StuffIt to DiskDoubler format. DiskDoubler is not only much faster than StuffIt but also compresses more thightly. The conversion freed up about 30 percent of the space previously used by the StuffIt archives. DiskDoubler's batch capability helped a great deal with this conversion of some 120 MB of compressed files (DiskDoubler expands PackIt and StuffIt archives much faster than the programs that created them). After queueing up the commands (simply by holding down the option key) and then double-clicking the batch file that it had automatically created, the procss ran unattended for several hours. We were using the more time consuming maximum compression mode, which tries two types of compression algorithms and then keeps the smaller result. In most cases the best-guess mode gives the same result, but to save download time for our users, we wanted to make sure all of the files were as small as possible. (BTW, even the fastest mode usually gives very good results). We have also looked at Diamond, Compactor, and StuffIt Deluxe, but none of them comes even close to DiskDoubler in terms of user-friendliness and convenience. Some may perceive it as a disadvantage that one cannot look into a DiskDoubler combined file and extract just a single file, but I believe that doing away with the concept of archives a great deal of user convenience if gained over StuffIt or Compactor. The speed of DiskDoubler is not only a function of its quickness in processing files but also in the time you save by not having to create and name archives or selecting files in them for extraction. On the average, I would say operating DiskDoubler requires about an order of magnitude fewer key-strokes and mouse-clicks than StuffIt. > Do programs get damaged when being compacted or uncompacted? I have never had any file damaged. DiskDoubler takes great care in making sure that files are kept intact, even if unusual things happen. Since DiskDoubler runs very well in the background under MultiFinder, I have occasionally done risky things in the foreground and crashed my machine while a file was being compressed or expanded. In no case did the file get damaged. > Have you had > troubel running it on a particular system, machine, file or program? No. There have been reports of conflicts between DiskDoubler INIT 2.04 and 3.0 with old versions of Claris MacWrite (not MacWrite II), Zedecor's Desk DAs, Full Impact and MacMoney. This problem was fixed with version 3.0a. Note: 3.01 is the current version. > Are you happt with "DiskDoubler?" I am extremely happy with it. I wouldn't want to use another one on a daily basis, because all I have looked at are too disruptive of my normal work flow. I use it on both my Macs at work and at home. The DiskDoubler INIT is wonderful, since it allows applications to recognize their compressed files and open them (DiskDoubler kicks in automatically and expands the file when you open it from within an applicaton). After you quit the application, DiskDoubler kicks in automatically and recompresses all the files that you expanded during the session. Thus, DiskDoubler's name is really appropriately chosen. I recently read that Apple Computer got a worldwide site license for all of its employees to be able to use DiskDoubler. I wish they would license it for building it into System 7.0 for the rest of us. They should also do that with OnLocation and SuperBoomerang! Another item on our wishlist is that Salient and Spider Island get together to hook up the TeleFinder BBS software with DiskDoubler. It would be terrific if DiskDoubler could automatically compress any files that a BBS user downloads from one of our six on-line CD-ROM discs and DD Expand would process it in real time as it arrives on the user's machine. ************************************************************** Wolfgang N. Naegeli President, MacClique--East Tennessee Macintosh Users Group Internet: wnn@ornl.gov Bitnet: wnn@ornlstc Phone: 615-574-6143 Fax: 615-574-6141 (MacFax) QuickMail (QM-QM): Wolfgang Naegeli @ 615-574-4510 Snail: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6206 **************************************************************
leonardr@svc.portal.com (Leonard Rosenthol) (12/07/90)
In article <1990Dec5.194720.15073@cs.utk.edu>, wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. Naegeli) writes: > Another item on our wishlist is that Salient and Spider Island get > together to hook up the TeleFinder BBS software with DiskDoubler. > It would be terrific if DiskDoubler could automatically compress any > files that a BBS user downloads from one of our six on-line CD-ROM > discs and DD Expand would process it in real time as it arrives on > the user's machine. > I recently sent Salient a set of XCMD's for use with Hypercard and MicroPhone II (and Supercard, etc.) which utilize the DiskDoubler engine to perform compression and decompression of files. I do not know if they have begun redistributing them yet, but once they are this will give you some additional ways to work with DD - especially in conjunction with your BBS. Note, that this makes MicroPhone II the first communcations package which can handle Stuffit, Stuffit Deluxe and Disk Doubler archives - and I would also love to handle Compactor archives, but Bill Goodman isn't talking! (Oh, Binhex, etc. coming soon...) -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- + Leonard Rosenthol | Internet: leonardr@sv.portal.com + + Software Ventures | GEnie: MACgician + + MicroPhone II Development Team | AOL: MACgician1 + ----------------------------------------------------------------------
inm501@csc.anu.oz.au (12/07/90)
Disk Doubler seems to compress file faster than StuffIt. But recently, I had a few bomb scare: I could not uncompress my file. After a lot of fuss, I finally realise it WOULD work if you restart you Mac. My version is B0.5 which probably explain why. I hope the commercial version has fix this.
essam@gagme.chi.il.us (Essam Khairullah) (12/08/90)
One question that's been bothering me lately is this: Will DiskDoubler allow for compressed postscript files to be placed into documents? For example, we use DesignStudio. Can I place a compressed PS file in one of my documents and have it decompress itself when the file is printed? We have more than 15 megs. of postscript files on our hard disk and this is a major concern when considering DiskDoubler. Thanks.... -- Essam Khairullah essam@gagme.chi.il.us I don't got no fancy signature.