Re: HardPressed/AutoArk...

[ag471@yfn.ysu.edu (Eric S. Ford)]

>In article <1q81sj$fmg@news.ysu.edu> ag471@yfn.ysu.edu (Eric S. Ford) writes:
>>
>>As I understand it, the compression utilities on the PC machines improve
>>overall speed because the harddrives on those machines are actually read
>>more slowly than those on the Apple line.   Thus, the compressed files
>>reduce read time required and the faster processors perform their 
>>decompression quickly enough to preserve some of the time savings.
>
>	I don't think the PC HD access speeds are slower than Apple HD
>access speeds.  I definitely think that compression utlities will
>speed up 3.5" disk access (on a pc), because the main bottleneck is
>the disk drive access.  With HDs, there may be a performance hit, but
>with a fast processor it's very small.

I knew when I made the above speculation that this would be the first 
correction I would get.  I know the PC drives have very fast access times
but from personal (non-scientific) use I have noticed MS-DOS seems to take
an inordinately long time to actually do the reading.  That's why I phrased
my speculation as I did: "those machine are actually read slower".  My 
thoughts are MS-DOS is the problem, not the hardware (curious thought
process for an Apple II user, eh?).  Throw in Windows and I think the
much touted hardware is being severely handicapped.  At any rate, I am
no expert regarding PC clones nor MS-DOS, these are just the speculations
of one who uses the machines (Apple II, Mac, and PC).

-- 
Eric S. Ford    ag471@yfn.ysu.edu or forde@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil 
                
	"Under capitalism, man exploits man.  Under communism, it's
	exactly the opposite."