Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 13:47:15 EDT
From: wse@matahari.dfci.harvard.edu (William Edwards)
Subject: Autodoubler Problem SUMMARY: I went to Stacker
Thanks to everyone who responded. As you'll see from the attached
mail, there was some skepticism about disk-level auto-compression,
though one person was using Stacker without any problems. One person
suggested a new disk drive, which I am too cheap to buy at the moment.
I went ahead, installed Stacker and got rid of Autodoubler. This
eliminated the mysterious spinup problem, *and* gained me disk space,
since Autodoubler was not compressing my System Folder. So far so
good. Here come the messages:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original posting:
I am about to go this route, and was wondering if any have travelled
it before me. I am about to dump Autodoubler (2.0.3), which is spinning my
Powerbook drive up every thirty seconds, and which is incompatible
with Quicken 4.0 and macBible 3.0. I'm running Stacker on my HP 95,
and it just seems to work. I want to try it on my PB 100 8/40, and
Classic II 10/40, both running System 7.1 (lots of system extension).
Please respond via email with any comments on Autodoubler vs. Stacker,
as well as going from AD to Stacker, and I will summarize. Thanks!
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 17:08 EST
From: Don't Panic! <ABRODY@vax.clarku.edu>
Subject: compression programs (A)
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
X-Vms-To: IN%"wse@matahari.dfci.harvard.edu"
Mr. Edwards,
In response to your comp.sys.mac.digest post about Stacker:
I have not worked with Stacker, but I do know a thing or two about compression
programs. If a compression program is driver level compression, avoid it!
Driver level compression programs have the worst kind of crashes when the hard
disk crashes. Stick to file level compression. In either case make sure that
you have everything you use backed up frequently.
I currently have Autodoubler 2.0.3 (control panel),
and have made an alias for it to my desktop.
Anytime I worry that it is running the hard disk too often, I open it and
click on the Automatic Compression checkbox to turn it off. When I want it on
again I click it back on. Also use the When option to make it only turn on
when you move the pointer to a corner of the screen. That way you are in
control of the time it compresses and when it doesn't. Both methods still
allow for already compressed files to load. Also you can use the Autodoubler
Utility Autodoubler Internal Compressor that came with the package. This
allows you to use many large files (like Quicktime) when they are still
compressed. My copy of Quicktime which was 962k is now 560k. It always runs
fine.
Hope this helps.
P.S. Superdoubler is now available from Symmantic. It includes the latest
version of Autoubler Diskdoubler and Copydoubler.
Sincerely,
ABRODY@VAX.CLARKU.EDU
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 03:01 EST
From: Don't Panic! <ABRODY@vax.clarku.edu>
Subject: Re: compression programs (A)
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
X-Vms-To: IN%"wse@matahari.dfci.harvard.edu"
Mr. Edwards,
I don't know off hand of any "war stories" about Stacker. Also I forgot to
mention, Autodoubler fancies spinning the hard disk at its leisure when
compression is on. Did you understand the two settings I told you about
turning compression off temporarily? These will stop the spinning of the hard
disk. If you like I can send you binhexed the images of where the settings
are set and not set to reduce the spinning of your hard disk. Let me know
what what of these three formats you support if you do: JPEG, TIFF, PICT.
Have you
contacted Symmantic about the inability to work without the power plugged in?
Do you know that Stacker will work on battery power, or are you only guessing?
Call the makers of Stacker to find out if it works, or get it on warranty no
questions asked to test it for yourself.
I'd be happy to give a few tidbits about Autodoubler. However, as for
Stacker, I don't have a clue. I just know the part about the driver level vs.
the file level compression.
BTW the best all-around compression program IMHO is Compact Pro. While slow
it has the advantage of not using any extensions, and archival compression
using Finder view style interface. I have never had any problems with Compact
Pro except its slowness. Beauty is that it alone creates edits .sea files, as
well has the ability to read and write Binhex 4.0. Check it out in
info-mac/cmp/compact-pro-134. The author of the program sent me back the key
when I sent in my $25 shareware fee.
Good luck.
Sincerely,
ABRODY@VAX.CLARKU.EDU
X-Sender: casgrain@fisher.sc.ucl.ac.be
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 13:43:46 +0200
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
From: Casgrain@ecol.ucl.ac.be (Philippe Casgrain)
Subject: Compression
This may not be what you are looking for, but my suggestion would
be to buy a bigger HD. For the Classic II, you can get an internal 200MB
disk for under 400$ (probably 300), and for the PB, although new ones are
pricey, you can get an used 80 or 120 (or even 160 MB!) for a good price
>From someone who's buying a bigger drive.
Auto-compression is slow on these computers, IMHO (esp. the PB).
Myself, I bought an external SQ 105 and I put seldom-used stuff on SQ
cartridges and essential stuff on my PB's 80MB HD.
Philippe
--
Casgrain@ecol.ucl.ac.be, Mac Hacker Lite
Sirius Cybernetics Corporation
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 94 20:45:07 PDT
X-Sender: lwin@popntop.san-jose.ate.slb.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
From: lwin@San-Jose.ate.slb.com (Peter Lwin)
Subject: RE: Autodoubler vs Stacker
Hi,
Regarding to your query, I used to be a user of Autodoubler but for a
variety of reasons I have been happy on Stacker since it came available on
Mac. The only complaint I have is that Stac does not seem to care much
about the Mac market and do not keep it up-to-date vis-a-vis the features
in PC Stacker.
Autodoubler
-----------
Pros: - freedom to choose what to compress
- less sensitivity to disk level device drivers
- potentially faster based upon what to compress
(usual argument is that it is better if virtual memory is used)
- theoretically safer since it only effect selected compressed files
Cons: - non-transparent nature
(always seems to be compressing when I need the machine)
- compatibility with PB Sleep mode. It is dangerous to move PB with the
disk active so I put it to sleep before I move. Autodoubler seems to
busy with the disk at that time, so I wind up waiting.
(to be fair, the new version may deal with this better)
- too many user decisions to make
(should I compress System Folder or not?)
- IMHO, it is more suitable for desktop macs than PB Macs
Stacker 1.0
-----------
Pros: - truly transparent, set it and forget it. Put it to sleep instantly.
- high level of file compatibility since it is at device level
- excellent on removable Syquests since it is host system independent
- compresses everything, no user's decision necessary
Cons: - Adds delay system wide (noticable when compared with non-Stacked sys.)
My experience shows a slowdown of about 15% w/o virtual memory.
Some can be avoided by partitioning the drive and stacking selected
partition. This method also works for virtual memory usage; dedicate
an uncompressed partition for virtual memory.
- Potentially more dangerous since you could lose the entire disk
True; but a trusim for all types of compression. Back-up often to be
safe. So far I have not found anything I could blame Stacker for.
Knock on wood! pretty good for first version on Mac.
- Disk device driver compatibility
Potentially true; but Stac has done a good job. I use Silverlining to
format all my disks and I have found no problems. Cannot say for other
low level disk formatters.
- More tedious to upgrade to the next or newer version.
True; my PC experience on Stacker tells me the best thing to do is to
back-up, reformat and re-install with newer version.
- Cannot "tune" compression level
True on the Mac. This is where Stac's PC bias comes in. Stacker 4.0 on
the PC is great. It is the only disk comprssion s/w that guarantees
better than 2:1 compression. When on the Mac?
- Poor technical support on Macs. When I started, I called their tech
support line a couple times. Huge difficulty in finding someone who
knows much about the Mac version.
Stats from my PB experience with Stacker:
-----------------------------------------
Originally started on PB-170 4/80; two partitions, one dedicated for
virtual memory and not compressed. Boot partition compressed. Acceptable
but found more delays due to virtual memory than Stacker.
Currently moved over to PB 160 8/80.
I have currently "stacked" the whole disk since I stopped using virtual
memory. I have, by Stacker, 131Mb of files on disk with 30.6Mb free space
left on disk. On my last back-up, Restrospect reported that 81 Mb of files
were backed up. I believe that represent the "true" uncompressed file size.
I have a mixture of 85%/15% of standard files and .sit (pre-compressed)
files on my disk.
Hope this helps. The attitude on the Net favors Autodoubler but I don't
think we are being fair to Stacker. They have a taint of the PC but they
have an excellent product. Used with an understanding of the trade-offs, I
think it is far superior to Autodoubler, especially on Powerbooks.
Good luck! if you know Stac's e-mail address, send them a copy of this or
any other you may receive. Maybe they will pay better attention to the Mac
market.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter P. Lwin
Telecom Business Manager Phone: (408)437-5195
Schlumberger Technologies Fax: (408)452-1752
Telecom Test ATE, San Jose, CA, USA E-mail: lwin@san-jose.ate.slb.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Date: 9 Jun 1994 11:30:22 U
From: "Harris Tom" <harris_tom@po.gis.prc.com>
Subject: AutoDoubler Problem
Return-Receipt-To: "Harris Tom" <harris_tom@po.gis.prc.com>
To: wse@jimmy.harvard.edu
I currently use AutoDouble 2.03 and Quicken 4.0 and I have no problems. If
AutoDoubler (file level compression) is causing your hard disk to spin up, then
Stacker (driver level compression) should solve that problem. I have found
that several email programs will also spin up your powerbooks hard disk.