[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] Disk Recovery Utilities

peter@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Peter J Diaz de Leon) (09/06/90)

There are several Hard / Floppy disk utilities
available such as Norton, Mace, and PC Tools.

I would like to purchase one but don't know
the pluses or minuses of each.  So if you
own a copy could you drop me a line and
tell me what you think of it. How easy
is it to use. How clear is the manual and
so on.

I am most interested in file and FAT recovery.


Also has any of the PC magazines done a review
of these products lately?


Thanks
-Peter (peter@cvax.cs.uwm.edu)

kdq@demott.COM (Kevin D. Quitt) (09/07/90)

    I am looking for a program that is the equivalent of unix's "strip" -
in other words, will remove all debug info from an EXE file.  I specifically
cannot use EXEPACK.

    I tried using lzexe's UPACKEXE on an EXEPACKed file, but it tells me
that that file wasn't EXEPACKed - although lzexe informs me that it has
been (yet more amateur programming). 

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drack@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Dave Rackley) (09/07/90)

In article <6154@uwm.edu> peter@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Peter J Diaz de Leon) writes:

>   There are several Hard / Floppy disk utilities
>   available such as Norton, Mace, and PC Tools.

I vote for PCTools.  I've used various versions and have grown accustomed to 
the friendly interface.  It can also reside as a TSR with hot-key activation, 
which makes it very helpful in a crunch (inside another application!).

I've also used Norton, a good product, but I prefer PCTools.


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ralphs@halcyon.wa.com (Ralph Sims) (09/07/90)

drack@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Dave Rackley) writes:

>In article <6154@uwm.edu> peter@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Peter J Diaz de Leon) writes

>> There are several Hard / Floppy disk utilities
>> available such as Norton, Mace, and PC Tools.

> I've also used Norton, a good product, but I prefer PCTools.

I've not had a lot of success with Norton's Disk Doctor, but PCTools's
DISKFIX has saved my bacon more than once.  This 'Swiss Army Knife' (as
it's been called) is overkill in its diversity, but I like it.  I have
no need (currently) for its Desktop feature, and only use a few of the
standalone utilities, but all in all, a fine package.  But then, that's
why there's different flavors of ice cream...

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  in handy...

thorh@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Thor Hallen) (09/08/90)

	PC Magazine reviewed the disk recovery utilities earlier this
year and gave the "Editors Choice Award" to Mace Utilities Emergency
Room. The basis of the award was success in cleaning up more intentionally
trashed disks than PC Tools or Norton Utilities. They also liked Mace's
ability to restore the disk to it's starting condition if something goes
wrong. Norton has a new release version 5 out that seems to address the
shortcomings reported in PC Magazine's review. If you use an older
version of Mace Utilities 1990 with an Adaptec controller, make sure
you get a free upgrade or you will trash your disk to an unrecoverable
condition because of an interupt conflict.

						Thor Hallen
						Tektronix, Inc.