Re: HD Defrag

[jp1@aol.com (JP1)]

In article <tolsenCwysCJ.Ls1@netcom.com>, tolsen@netcom.com (Tall Runner)
writes:

>> I have heard the horror stories also (I assume you are speaking of 
>> Renaissance) but I have never had a problem with the Vitesse >>
programs.

While it is optimizing, Renaissance keeps _all_ directory data in RAM,
which means that if something happens during the operation to interrupt
it, the volume directory structure is scrambled (from slightly to
'terminally').  That's why the Renaissance docs stress that a good backup
should be made before optimizing.  In general, if a system is stable,
Renaissance will optimize flawlessly.  If a bad RAM chip or some other
system flaw causes a crash while the optimization's on-going, the
resulting situation may be repairable...or maybe not.  There _appeared_ to
be some directory/file problems that _might_ cause Renaissance to crash,
but that was never tied down absolutely.  Nevertheless, it's wise to run
Deliverance (or ProSel's volume repair) on a volume before it's optimized,
and later releases from Vitesse tied Renaissance and Deliverance together.

Renaissance's layout for an optimized volume is considered by some to be
more 'thorough' than that of ProSel 16.  Renaissance leaves the volume
with _all_ files pertinent to a file or directory located together.  In
the case of a large file, for instance, data blocks, key blocks, header
blocks, etc., are all in the same place.  This might  make for slightly
faster operation, but it would probably require a stopwatch to quantify.

The 'theme' of the Vitesse Salvation utilities was user-friendly,
'desktop' interface.  With the exception of Wings, all the Salvation utils
were written from scratch to be GS/OS 5.0x compatible and efficient. 
(Wings was a makeover of an earlier program written and published by the
designer, Joe Jaworski, and it had/has some remnants of ProDOS 16 code
that Joe did not rewrite.)  None of the Salvation utils was rewritten to
be fully compatible with or take advantage of GS/OS 6.0+, so there are a
few places where the utils are handicapped.  For instance, none of them is
truly 'at home' with HFS volumes.

Had the IIgs market been more solid, there were some great improvements
planned for the whole Salvation line.  (Deliverance would have been
fantastic!)  However, economics and other business issues killed the
plans.

One last note on Renaissance: How can one _not_ like the dulcet
announcement that a volume has been optimized?  (That's the voice of Joe
Jaworski's wife, BTW.)

John P.