Re: 3.5" Disk archiving

[Jeff Blakeney <CUTjblakeney@sentex.net>]

On Sat, 15 Feb 2003 18:35:41 GMT, Andy McFadden <fadden@fadden.com>
wrote:

>Or use a "disk zap" utility that zeroes out the empty sectors.  I believe
>ProDOS 8 ShrinkIt 3.4 provided this feature, for exactly this reason.

Doing this isn't enough to get the smallest possible disk archive.
You get the best compression if all the unused sectors are filled with
zeros AND are grouped together sequentially on the disk.  If you use a
"disk zap" utility to zero all the unused sectors you should also run
a "disk optimizer" utility to get all the actual file data put
together at the beginning of the disk and leave all the empty sectors
together at the end of the disk.

I find it easier and quicker just to format a new RAM disk (or floppy)
and copy the files off of the old disk onto the new disk and then
archive that new disk.

-- 
 Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University in the
                 Apple II Community on Syndicomm.com
 CUT the obvious from my address if you want to e-mail me