ake@dayton.saic.com (Earle Ake) (04/17/91)
I am having a problem running the FastDiskII program that is on one
of the Fred Fish disks. After I use it to create a new disk, I try to open
the disk icon. As the last icon image appears, the system GURU's! If I use
CLI and try to delete a file from the disk, the same thing happens. I don't
know enough about the inner workings of the O.S. to go in myself and fix the
bug. The author is in Germany or somewhere overseas so I thought I might
appeal to the net and see if someone has noticed this problem and fixed it or
might be willing to see what the trouble might be. If I don't get this fixed,
I might go out and purchase B.A.D. to help out my floppy access. Anyone into
seeing what might be wrong with FastDiskII?
Earle
_____________________________________________________________________________
____ ____ ___
Earle Ake /___ /___/ / / Science Applications International Corporation
____// / / /__ Dayton, Ohio
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Internet: ake@dayton.saic.com uucp: dayvb!ake SPAN: 28284::akestolp@dost.informatik.uni-kl.de (Torsten Stolpmann (PA Buhler)) (04/17/91)
ake@dayton.saic.com (Earle Ake) writes: > I am having a problem running the FastDiskII program that is on one >of the Fred Fish disks. After I use it to create a new disk, I try to open >the disk icon. As the last icon image appears, the system GURU's! If I use >CLI and try to delete a file from the disk, the same thing happens. I don't >know enough about the inner workings of the O.S. to go in myself and fix the >bug. The author is in Germany or somewhere overseas so I thought I might >appeal to the net and see if someone has noticed this problem and fixed it or >might be willing to see what the trouble might be. If I don't get this fixed, >I might go out and purchase B.A.D. to help out my floppy access. Anyone into >seeing what might be wrong with FastDiskII? Here are some notes on FastDisk by the original author: FastDiskII (written by Oliver Wagner) was based on FastDisk1.5 (written by me) and contains some serious bugs, which were not present in Version 1.5. PLEASE DO NOT USE FASTDISKII, since it isn't of much use. Oliver sent FastDiskII to Fred Fish without giving me a chance to authorize or check it, thus spoiling my reputation as a programmer. Since Version 1.5 (which was quite stable, the only reported bugs were the missing ability to process empty files and some strange behaviour with incon- sistent disks), there was another Release Version (1.8) which has lots of im- provements (ability to use all kind of devices ie. FF0:, RAD:, Harddisks etc., FastMem-Support, better performance and more) which I'm willing to upload to abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov or post to comp.binaries.amiga, if such interest exists. Version 1.9 is currently in the Beta-testing stage and will be released to the public in Summer 1991. This Version supports the Fast-Filing System and con- tains an Intuition-interface (lots of other improvements too). Future releases past 1.9 will be able to operate on a single device. I'm still thinking over an efficient way to do this (Better than B.A.D. :( or QB-Tools :< ). Hope this helps, Torsten "Thor" Stolpmann BTW: Does anybody know exactly, how Extended-Bitmapblocks are implemented? I know that there is a Pointer in the RootBlock to a chained list of Bitmap-extensionblocks, but I have no information about the contents of these blocks, and no sufficiently large Harddisk to find out myself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Torsten "Thor" Stolpmann stolp@informatik.uni-kl.de (sorry, can't send Email) "The world is my oyster" F.g.t.H. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ake@dayton.saic.com (Earle Ake) (04/18/91)
In article <stolp.671892003@dost>, stolp@dost.informatik.uni-kl.de (Torsten Stolpmann (PA Buhler)) writes: > FastDiskII (written by Oliver Wagner) was based on FastDisk1.5 (written by me) > and contains some serious bugs, which were not present in Version 1.5. > > PLEASE DO NOT USE FASTDISKII, since it isn't of much use. > > Oliver sent FastDiskII to Fred Fish without giving me a chance to authorize or > check it, thus spoiling my reputation as a programmer. > > Since Version 1.5 (which was quite stable, the only reported bugs were the > missing ability to process empty files and some strange behaviour with incon- > sistent disks), there was another Release Version (1.8) which has lots of im- > provements (ability to use all kind of devices ie. FF0:, RAD:, Harddisks etc., > FastMem-Support, better performance and more) which I'm willing to upload to > abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov or post to comp.binaries.amiga, if such interest > exists. Please upload to abcfd20! Earle _____________________________________________________________________________ ____ ____ ___ Earle Ake /___ /___/ / / Science Applications International Corporation ____// / / /__ Dayton, Ohio ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: ake@dayton.saic.com uucp: dayvb!ake SPAN: 28284::ake
holgerl@amiux.UUCP (Holger Lubitz) (04/18/91)
In article <1991Apr16.134655.1565@dayton.saic.com> ake@dayton.saic.com (Earle Ake) writes: >Anyone into >seeing what might be wrong with FastDiskII? According to the autor of this version (Oliver Wagner), FastDiskII is *absolutely hopelessly* messed up due to bugs in the global optimizer of Lattice C. He compiled it with size optimization for release, and didn't test *this* version thoroughly, though he did with the previous ones (which weren't compiled with size optimizing and thus didn't show the bug). There is another successor to FastDisk 1.5 (upon which FastDiskII is based), called FastDisk 1.8. It is from the original author and doesn't contain such a nice intuition interface, but is bugfree and optimizes somewhat better. IMHO even better than B.A.D. Don't know at all if this ever appeared on the fish disks, though. Best regards, Holger -- Holger Lubitz, Kl. Drakenburger Str. 24, D-W-3070 Nienburg/Weser
peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) (04/18/91)
In article <stolp.671892003@dost> stolp@dost.informatik.uni-kl.de (Torsten Stolpmann (PA Buhler)) writes: > >BTW: Does anybody know exactly, how Extended-Bitmapblocks are implemented? > I know that there is a Pointer in the RootBlock to a chained list of > Bitmap-extensionblocks, but I have no information about the contents of > these blocks, and no sufficiently large Harddisk to find out myself. Ask Ralph Babel or look into his "Guru-Buch" (german). -- Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel // E-Mail to \\ Only my personal opinions... Commodore Frankfurt, Germany \X/ {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk
frank@morpheus.UUCP (Frank McPherson) (04/20/91)
> >There is another successor to FastDisk 1.5 (upon which FastDiskII is based), >called FastDisk 1.8. It is from the original author and doesn't contain >such a nice intuition interface, but is bugfree and optimizes somewhat >better. IMHO even better than B.A.D. > >Don't know at all if this ever appeared on the fish disks, though. > -- Do any of these programs work on FastFileSystem formatted devices? I'm interested in optimizing my hard drive partitions. Thanks, -- Frank McPherson INTERNET : emcphers@fox.cs.vt.edu -- -- AmigaUUCP : uunet!vtserf!morpheus!frank --
holgerl@amiux.UUCP (Holger Lubitz) (04/21/91)
In article <frank.4294@morpheus.UUCP> frank@morpheus.UUCP (Frank McPherson) writes: >Do any of these programs work on FastFileSystem formatted devices? I'm >interested in optimizing my hard drive partitions. The current version (1.8) of FastDisk does not. However, there is a very good commercial package called THI-Tools, which contains a great optimizer for FFS-Devices called SpeedDisk. Unfortunately you have to buy the whole package to get it. (Though you also get a backup program, a benchmark program, a file manager and some other goodies if you do so) If you don't want to spend your bucks on a commercial program like this one, there is still a cheap way to do it: Simply backup the partition you want to optimize, format it, and restore all the files again. Your partition is well optimized again after that. Best regards, Holger -- Holger Lubitz, Kl. Drakenburger Str. 24, D-W-3070 Nienburg/Weser
frank@morpheus.UUCP (Frank McPherson) (04/23/91)
In article <holgerl.1437@amiux.UUCP> holgerl@amiux.UUCP (Holger Lubitz) writes: >>Do any of these programs work on FastFileSystem formatted devices? I'm >>interested in optimizing my hard drive partitions. > >The current version (1.8) of FastDisk does not. >However, there is a very good commercial package called THI-Tools, which >contains a great optimizer for FFS-Devices called SpeedDisk. Unfortunately >you have to buy the whole package to get it. (Though you also get a backup >program, a benchmark program, a file manager and some other goodies if >you do so) > >If you don't want to spend your bucks on a commercial program like this one, >there is still a cheap way to do it: Simply backup the partition you want >to optimize, format it, and restore all the files again. Your partition is >well optimized again after that. > -- Thanks for the information. I'll stick to the last method for now, since I've got to spend my software money on things I can't do any other way. I've been doing the backup-format-restore method for some time now; it works out pretty well, especially since I can usually finangle enough free space on one of my partitions to hold the data from the other one if I first do a bit o' compression on the partition used to hold the stuff during the format. It's a bit faster than using floppies. <grin> It is, however, a pain, and I'm definitely looking forward to a PD or Shareware utility which would do that. If I could register a shareware product for around $30 or $40, I'd do it. I just don't want to have to pay sixty or seventy dollars for a package I won't use much, such as the THI-Tools you mentioned above. -- Frank McPherson INTERNET : emcphers@fox.cs.vt.edu -- -- AmigaUUCP : uunet!vtserf!morpheus!frank --
helmutn@cip-s01.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Helmut Neumann) (04/24/91)
holgerl@amiux.UUCP (Holger Lubitz) writes: >However, there is a very good commercial package called THI-Tools, which >contains a great optimizer for FFS-Devices called SpeedDisk. Unfortunately >you have to buy the whole package to get it. (Though you also get a backup >program, a benchmark program, a file manager and some other goodies if >you do so) Hello, better TEST programs before you tell someone else to use ist. My expiriences with THI-Tools are quite BAD (after optimization --> format HD because structure was scrambled). Sometimes it even doesn't reach the end of optimization. The program i would use instead ist Quarterback-Tools. Why ? - It checks the complete Disk BEFORE optimization - It doesn't consume as much memory as BAD or THI-SPEED, with the both last mentioned you can not optimize a HD with 200 MB with only 4 MB Ram, QBTools CAN. - It contains a reliable checker for integrity of files - It really repairs HDs with the "volume not validated" error (you know what i mean) by just deleting the Error-Files and they are usable again without any Garbage on it (e.g. Diskdoctor undeletes ALL the files that have ever been on the HD ) - It IS RELIABLE. I have never reformat the HD or use my backup since i have this Tool. The big disadvantage : the price, but reliability counts i think. Bye, Helmut.
rhialto@cs.kun.nl (Olaf'Rhialto'Seibert) (05/01/91)
In article <holgerl.1237@amiux.UUCP> holgerl@amiux.UUCP (Holger Lubitz) writes: >There is another successor to FastDisk 1.5 (upon which FastDiskII is based), >called FastDisk 1.8. It is from the original author and doesn't contain >such a nice intuition interface, but is bugfree and optimizes somewhat >better. IMHO even better than B.A.D. The "nice Intuition interface" in FastDiskII is programmed *in a very wrong way*. Go look at the code... in cases of errors the main loop is re-entered recursively, all #defines were removed and hard constants substituted everywhere, just completely terrible. Gives Oliver Wagner a very bad reputation indeed. Deserved. Almost made me stop playing "Bally"... (a game that he wrote) >Holger Lubitz, Kl. Drakenburger Str. 24, D-W-3070 Nienburg/Weser -- Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert rhialto@cs.kun.nl How can you be so stupid if you're identical to me? -Robert Silverberg
holgerl@amiux.agsc.sub.org (Holger Lubitz) (05/05/91)
In article <helmutn.672498241@cip-s01> helmutn@cip-s01.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Helmut Neumann) writes: >better TEST programs before you tell someone else to use ist. My expiriences >with THI-Tools are quite BAD (after optimization --> format HD because structure >was scrambled). Sometimes it even doesn't reach the end of optimization. I don't know which releases of both the OS and the FastFileSystem you used when getting these results. I wouldn't recommend a program to others if I hadn't tested it. And it worked OK for me ever since I use it, under both 1.3 and various releases of 2.xx You are correct, though, in making the point that it uses lots of RAM while optimizing. >The program i would use instead ist Quarterback-Tools. Why ? >- It IS RELIABLE. I have never reformat the HD or use my backup since i have > this Tool. QB Tools and *RELIABLE* ?? I heard of very different experiences by others, including totally mangled directory structures after using it, but yet I don't own it and thus can't say more about it. Best regards, Holger -- Holger Lubitz, Kl. Drakenburger Str. 24, D-W-3070 Nienburg/Weser