[comp.sys.mac.system] How big is my folder?

rq02+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Quadrel) (08/09/90)

If I display the contents of a folder "By Size", the Finder will tell me
the size of each of the files, but prints the size of a folder as "--".

Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K the files
and sub-folders within a folder consume?... Without opening up that folder
and looking inside myself?
Thanks,
Rich.

andyp@treehouse.UUCP (Andy Peterman) (08/09/90)

In article <Mak5=YK00WB885dEMj@andrew.cmu.edu> rq02+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Quadrel) writes:
>
>If I display the contents of a folder "By Size", the Finder will tell me
>the size of each of the files, but prints the size of a folder as "--".
>
>Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K the files
>and sub-folders within a folder consume?... Without opening up that folder
>and looking inside myself?

Try MacTREE Plus (if you can find it, that is).  Its displays the entire
hard disk as a tree of folders.  As you click on any folder (or select a
group of folders or files) it immediately tells you the total size of that
folder along with the number of files in it.  This includes all sub-folders.

	Andy Peterman
	treehouse!andyp@gvgpsa.gvg.tek.com

chcu321@ut-emx.UUCP (Michael J. Liebman) (08/09/90)

In article <Mak5=YK00WB885dEMj@andrew.cmu.edu> rq02+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Quadrel) writes:
>
>If I display the contents of a folder "By Size", the Finder will tell me
>the size of each of the files, but prints the size of a folder as "--".
>Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K the files
>and sub-folders within a folder consume?



Simply select the folder, and then use "Get Info" (command-I) from the
file menu.

Mike



-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Michael J. Liebman               chcu321@emx.cc.utexas.edu (128.83.1.33)
  Dept. of Chemical Engineering    liebman@UTAIVC (BITNET)
  University of Texas at Austin    (512) 471-5150.ma.bell

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

m_herodotus@coors.dec.com (Mario Herodotus - Digital Customer Support Center (800) 525-6570) (08/10/90)

In article <Mak5=YK00WB885dEMj@andrew.cmu.edu>, rq02+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Quadrel) writes...
>Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K the files
>and sub-folders within a folder consume?... Without opening up that folder
>and looking inside myself?
>Thanks,
>Rich.

I'm running MacOS 6.0.4, and all I have to do is select the folder (folder is 
hilited) and chose get info from the FILE menu (or press 'prezel-I'). This 
calculates the size of the folder and displays it in the info box.

Mario

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wiseman@tellabs.com (Jeff Wiseman) (08/11/90)

In article <Mak5=YK00WB885dEMj@andrew.cmu.edu> rq02+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Quadrel) writes:
>If I display the contents of a folder "By Size", the Finder will tell me
>the size of each of the files, but prints the size of a folder as "--".

Just a thought on this subject (I've been asked about this a couple times). The
mac file system behaves similar to a unix system. There are different "types"
of file. A "folder" type file (similar to the unix "directory" type) does not
really physically "contain" other files such as applications or document types.
What it does contain is mainly POINTERS to each of the files "contained" in the
folder.

In other words, the size of the "folder" type file is based on the NUMBER of
files in it and NOT the total disk storage allotted to the files "inside" the
folder. Showing the SIZE of a folder file is kind of meaningless. It's the disk
space MANAGED or LINKED TO through the folder file. The Get Info facility is
smart enough to know that it's this MANAGED space information that the user
really wants to see.

Unix users have two commands for this. One, the "ls" command shows the SIZE of
each file, regardless of where it is a directory, binary, or data file
(obviously ls is NOT an ancronym :-). The other is "du" which will show the
disk utilization of directories, disks, volumes, or partitions (which of course
could ALL be viewed as different types of files and file collections).

For Apple to do what you ask would theoretically be inconsistant. They would
have to add some kind of "View By Disk Usage" thus making the mac more like a
unix system (of course I WOULDN'T want to get into a discussion of whether or
not THAT would be a good idea! :-)

Anyway, hope this helps some.


--
Jeff Wiseman:	....uunet!tellab5!wiseman OR wiseman@TELLABS.COM

Adam.Frix@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix) (08/11/90)

Richard Quadrel   writes in a message on 08/08/90 at 17:59:00 ...

RQ>  If I display the contents of a folder "By Size", the Finder 
RQ>  will tell me the size of each of the files, but prints the size 
RQ>  of a folder as "--". 
RQ>  Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K 
RQ>  the files and sub-folders within a folder consume?


The new Finder that will come with System 7.0 will do exactly this.  But for
right now....sorry, I can't help you.  I mean, if even DiskTop won't do it...

--Adam--


* Origin: See above (1:226/200.2)
--  
Adam Frix via cmhGate - Net 226 fido<=>uucp gateway Col, OH
UUCP: ...!osu-cis!n8emr!cmhgate!Adam.Frix
INET: Adam.Frix@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG

drew@cup.portal.com (Andrew E Wade) (08/12/90)

Re:  utility to show size of folder.

Norton Utilities includes an INIT called Directory Assistance that modifies
the open/save dialog boxes of most applications and includes the ability
to show the size of a folder.

-Drew Wade
drew@objy.com

jmunkki@hila.hut.fi (Juri Munkki) (08/15/90)

In article <65286.26C3A4C3@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG> Adam.Frix@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix) writes:
>Richard Quadrel   writes in a message on 08/08/90 at 17:59:00 ...
>
>RQ>  If I display the contents of a folder "By Size", the Finder 
>RQ>  will tell me the size of each of the files, but prints the size 
>RQ>  of a folder as "--". 
>RQ>  Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K 
>RQ>  the files and sub-folders within a folder consume?
>
>
>The new Finder that will come with System 7.0 will do exactly this.  But for
>right now....sorry, I can't help you.  I mean, if even DiskTop won't do it...

There's a new file compression utility called Compactor that has proven
to be everything that I wanted from a program of this kind. My $25 shareware
fee will be in the mail real soon now...

Compactor understand folder hierarchies and stuff like that a lot better
than St*ffit. It allows you to view the files in several different orders.
Folder contents size is always visible and the files can even be sorted
using the criteria.

Why is Compactor so good?
	1) It is extremely MultiFinder-friendly.
	2) It allows you to add files into the archive, but doesn't pack
	   them until you save the archive. You can collect files from
	   multiple sources, edit the archive and work on it and only then
	   do the packing with a single save command.
	3) It packs better than stuffit.

The only drawback is a limit of 1500 files per archive. I hit this limit while
trying to add my 80MB partition to an archive. I didn't want to pack all this
stuff. I just wanted to see folder sizes to better understand where to go
looking for more room. I did the same thing with my 20MB partition. I ended
up packing some of the larger software packages and saving 4MB of disk space.

   ___________________________________________________________________________
  / Juri Munkki	    /  Helsinki University of Technology   /  Wind  /   HP S /
 / jmunkki@hut.fi  /  Computing Center Macintosh Support  /  Surf  /   48 X /
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

barry@network.ucsd.edu (Barry Brown) (08/15/90)

In article <65286.26C3A4C3@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG> Adam.Frix@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix) writes:
>Richard Quadrel   writes in a message on 08/08/90 at 17:59:00 ...
>RQ>  If I display the contents of a folder "By Size", the Finder 
>RQ>  will tell me the size of each of the files, but prints the size 
>RQ>  of a folder as "--". 
>RQ>  Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K 
>RQ>  the files and sub-folders within a folder consume?
>The new Finder that will come with System 7.0 will do exactly this.  But for
>right now....sorry, I can't help you.  I mean, if even DiskTop won't do it...

After reading all the replies to this, I can only ask myself "Gawd, doesn't
anybody use Get Info anymore?"

Simply highlight the folder in question and select Get Info from
the File menu.  A window will be thrown up giving you the size of
the folder in bytes and in K, as well as giving you the number of files.

-- 
Barry E. Brown        --        \  Cal-Animage Beta publicity officer
bebrown@ucsd.{edu,uucp,bitnet}   \   Anime Stuff FTP Server administrator
Somewhere in University City....  \    (ftp network.ucsd.edu [128.54.16.3])
Silly quote: "Computer, access code 'Kei-Yuri'..."  --Daa-Mon Tog (ST:TNG)

steve@uswmrg2.UUCP (Steve Martin) (08/15/90)

In article <3330@tellab5.tellabs.com> wiseman@tellabs.com (Jeff Wiseman) writes:
>In article <Mak5=YK00WB885dEMj@andrew.cmu.edu> rq02+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Quadrel) writes:
>>If I display the contents of a folder "By Size", the Finder will tell me
>>the size of each of the files, but prints the size of a folder as "--".
>
>Just a thought on this subject (I've been asked about this a couple times). The
>mac file system behaves similar to a unix system. There are different "types"
>of file. A "folder" type file (similar to the unix "directory" type) does not
>really physically "contain" other files such as applications or document types.
>What it does contain is mainly POINTERS to each of the files "contained" in the
>folder.

Yes, but in the Mac desktop metaphor, the  user knows that a folder is just a
container and wants to see what the size of all of the objects in the folder
combine to make.  When I look in my file cabinet I see folders of differing
sizes and know that the size of a folder is dependent upon how much is inside
of it.  I think that even Apple could see the  usefulness of displaying this
information in the directory windows.

On the other hand, I am sure that one of the big reasons that this information
is not shown is related to technology.  In order to display a folders size in
the Get Info box, the Mac must traverse all of the "Pointers" and add up the size
of each individual document "contained" in the folder.  This is very time consuming
and would make directory displays very slow if the information was to be displayed
every time a folder was opened in the finder.

-- 
Steve Martin                         | Nothing I say can be held against
U S West Marketing Resources Group   | Me or my employer!
(...uswat.uswest.com!uswmrg2!steve)

flowers@lanai.cs.ucla.edu (Margot Flowers) (08/16/90)

>RQ>  Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K 
>RQ>  the files and sub-folders within a folder consume?
>
>... even DiskTop won't do it...

Disktop 4.0 will.  Highlight the folder you're interested in and hit
the "sizes" button.  In the finder, "Get Info" will.  However, what is
frustrating about both of these solutions is that once calculated,
this information is thrown away, and so when I'm file cleaning, I have
to scribble this stuff down on scratch paper.  It would be nice if the
value were retained and displayed once calculated.

russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) (08/16/90)

In article <38079@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> flowers@lanai.cs.ucla.edu (Margot Flowers) writes:
>
>Disktop 4.0 will.  Highlight the folder you're interested in and hit
>the "sizes" button.  In the finder, "Get Info" will.  However, what is
>frustrating about both of these solutions is that once calculated,
>this information is thrown away, and so when I'm file cleaning, I have
>to scribble this stuff down on scratch paper.  It would be nice if the
>value were retained and displayed once calculated.


Dare I say it?  "Wait for System 7.0"
<ducks>
--
Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu
][, ][+, ///, ///+, //e, //c, IIGS, //c+ --- Any questions?

wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. Naegeli) (08/16/90)

Richard Quadrel writes:
> Is there some utility available that can tell me how many K 
> the files and sub-folders within a folder consume?

I recently uploaded an old utility, an application called ShowSizes, to 
the Info-Mac archives at SUMEX. It should be made available soon. 
Incidentally, it was written by Jon Pugh, one of the Info-Mac digest 
moderators. It displays finder-like windows, in which folders appear 
showing either their size in k or in % of the disk space and filled with a 
kind of bar graph that indicates the proportion of space taken up by each 
folder (and its subfolders). If must have been deleted from the archives 
because of its age, but it still works, even under MultiFinder.  Jon told 
me that he is working on a new, full featured version, using the Think-C 
Class Libraries.

Wolfgang N. Naegeli
Internet: wnn@ornl.gov    Bitnet: wnn@ornlstc
Phone: 615-574-6143       Fax: 615-574-6141
QuickMail (QM-QM): Wolfgang Naegeli @ 615-574-4510
Snail:  Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6206