Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!ig!uwmcsd1!lakesys!jason
From: jason@lakesys.UUCP (Jason)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: zlink & kermit wont do BREAKS correctly / DD Docs available ?
Summary: When DDD Pro "Optimizes" a disk it...
Message-ID: <770@lakesys.UUCP>
Date: 24 Jun 88 06:47:03 GMT
References: <1962@netmbx.UUCP>
Organization: Lake Systems, Milwaukee Wisconsin
Lines: 30

In article <1962@netmbx.UUCP>, blume@netmbx.UUCP (Heiko Blume) writes:
> [All of major article deleted...]
> sth else: what does DDD Pro do when i select 'optimize a disk' ???
> i wont try it out on my harddisk...
> a documentation would be nice to have.
> -- 
> Heiko Blume                    # DOMAIN: blume@netmbx.UUCP { BITNET: ( mixed }
   ^ Ein andere (sp?) pastry? :)

	DDD Pro, and the rest of the packers that I know about, read the
block allocation bitmap on a device, and zero the unused blocks. This makes
for significantly better packing (as there's much more "similar data", which
is how all packing algorithms that I'm aware of work), and doesn't hurt "real"
ProDOS disks (or whatever), as it doesn't affect the files on the disk. I
personally wouldn't recommend using any of the packer's "optimize" functions,
as some of the programming in them is pretty shoddy, and I wouldn't doubt that
some/all of them wouldn't properly handle a large device (like a hard drive).

	For real (in the general sense, anyways) optimization, Glen Bredon's
"Beach Comber" program defragments (moves all the pieces of a file together
to make access to the file quicker) ProDOS devices. I've never heard about it
failing (I have a friend with an 80 Meg HD and a bbs - he uses it pretty
frequently), but Mr. Bredon does recommend backing up one's HD before using
his program. As I understand it, Beach Comber is part of the ProSel utilities.
Sorry, I don't know about addresses or anything like that - someone here
probably does.

	Jason - Not your average iconoclast.

"His mother was apoplectic, but the parking lot was his to keep until his
hair grew back..."