 Free Disk Space Help Contents

General Information

About FDS

Display

Drive Icons

Helpful Hints

Menu Commands

File menu

Drive menu

Option menu

Help menu


File menu commands

The File menu offers the following commands:

Print...	Prints a the textual display of free disk space.
Exit	Exits FDS.


Drives menu commands

The Drives menu offers the selection of displayed drives. The number of drives in the selection will depend upon the available hard drives in your system. If a drive letter is checked the drives information will be displayed. Selecting a checked drive will conceal the drive on the display and un-check the drive.


Options menu commands

The Options menu offers the following commands:

Chart	Toggles the display from a textual display to a graphical display.
Always On Top	Toggles the display to always stay on top of all other Windows.
Update Rate...	Sets the number of seconds to refresh the display.
Warn Bell	Sets the limits for warning bell to be triggered.
Save Config	Saves current settings as default for the next time FDS is started.


Help menu commands

The Help menu offers the following commands:

Contents	Calls FDS Help displaying the contents.
Search	Calls FDS Help with the search dialog box.
Help On Help	Calls Windows Help, which describes how to use Help.
About	Displays version and copyright information


File Print Command
Print... command (File menu)

Prints a the textual display of free disk space.

Print dialog box

The following options allow you to specify how the document should be printed:

Printer

This is the active printer and printer connection. Choose the Setup option to change the printer and printer connection.

Setup

Displays a Print Setup dialog box, so you can select a printer and printer connection.

Print Range

Specify the pages you want to print:

All	Prints the entire document.
Selection	Prints the currently selected text.
Pages	Prints the range of pages you specify in the From and To boxes.
Copies

Specify the number of copies you want to print for the above page range.

Collate Copies

Prints copies in page number order, instead of separated multiple copies of each page.

Print Quality

Select the quality of the printing. Generally, lower quality printing takes less time to produce.


File Exit command
Exit command (File menu)

Use this command to end your FDS session. You can also double click the system control box in the upper-left corner of the windows.


Option Chart command
Chart command (Option menu)

Use this command to toggle the display from a textual display to a graphical display.

Text

The textual display gives you the precise numeric information of the drive(s), indicating Volume names, Total available space, Free space and Percentage Free.

Chart

The graphical display gives you an easy to read chart and indicates the same Total and Free information as the textual display.


Option Always On Top command
Always On Top command (Option menu)

Use this command to toggle the Window from always being on top of all other Windows.


Option Update Rate command
Update Rate command (Option menu)

Use this command to set the number of seconds (1-60) to refresh the display. At each interval the display will refresh with the new drive information (if changed).


Option Warn Bell command
Warn Bell command (Option menu)

Use this command to set when the warning bell should sound. If the warning bell value is set to zero (0) the feature is disabled. If a value is entered for Free Space a warning bell will sound when that drives free space is less then the number of megabytes specified. If a value is entered for Percentage a warning bell will sound when that drives percentage of free space is less then the percentage specified.


Option Save Config command
Save Config command (Option menu)

Use this command to save the current configuration. This includes all checked menu selections, as well as the Warn Bell values and the Update Rate....


General Info: About Free Disk Space
About FDS

Free Disk Space

© Copyright 1993, Mark Hamilton

For comments or suggestions contact me via:

CompuServe [76555,143]

Note:	Free Disk Space is written and copyrighted by Mark Hamilton. At time of transfer extreme care was taken to verify no viruses existed within the files. All programs have been carefully tested to execute as described. However, no liabilities are assumed for the use of these programs.


General Info: Display
Display

There are two display formats available, graphical and textual. The graphical display gives you an easy to read chart and indicates the same Total and Free information as the textual display. The textual display gives you the precise numeric information of the drive(s), indicating Volume names, Total available space, Free space and Percentage Free.

Dynamic Update

All displays are dynamic and updated at the refresh rate defined in the Options Update Rate... dialog box. All numbers and graph indications will update if there is a change of free space on a drive. Also, the row of text will change colors. If there is a loss of free space, the text will turn red. If there is a gain in free space it will turn green. It will stay this color until the next refresh rate interval, unless it has changed again in the meantime.

Low Space Warnings

If a warning threshold limit has been reached (as defined in the Options Warn Bell dialog box) the bell will sound at the threshold rate. If the bar chart is displayed the drive's bar will invert then revert its self continuously until the threshold returns above the limit. If the text is displayed the specific text (Free Space or Percentage) for the drive will flash red.

Drive Icons

Each icon next to the drive letter represents the type of drive. This includes CD ROM, Stacker(TM) or Double Space(TM), a Device Driver, RAM, Net Work or a physical hard drive.

Compressed Drives

On the chart display, a physical hard drive which has been stacked or double spaced will show the space allocated to the other drive(s) in red. The textual display, will subtract the space allocated to the other drive(s) to give an accurate amount of total space (as if it were partitioned).

CD ROM Drives

If you have a local CD ROM drive, an estimate of total space will be displayed. In some cases (a CD ROM drive on a network, multiple CD ROM drives or an incompatible CD ROM drive) the total space will default to about 131+ megabytes.

If the disk is removed, the drive will disappear from the Drive menu and the display. Once the disk has been replaced, the new disk / drive will re-appear in the display and the Drive menu.


General Info: Drive Icons
Drive Icons

The following icons represent the associated drive type:

CD ROM drive.

This icon represents a CD ROM drive. A CD ROM drive will not be displayed if the disk is removed or the door is open.

Device Driver drive.

This icon represents a Device Driver drive. This is typically a compressed drive which has been created by Stacker or Double Space.

Fixed disk or Partitioned drive.

This icon represents a Fixed disk or Partitioned drive. This is typically any physical drive created with fdisk.

Joined drive.

This icon represents a Joined drive. This is a drive which has used the DOS "JOIN" command which joins a drive with a specific path.

Network drive.

This icon represents a Network drive. This is a drive which has been allocated on another system which is connected by a network.

RAM drive.

This icon represents a RAM drive. This is a drive which has used the DOS RAMDRIVE.SYS device driver which uses part of your RAM to simulate a hard drive.

Stacked or Double Space drive.

This icon represents a Stacked or Double Space drive. This is the physical drive which has been partitioned to created compressed drives.

Substituted drive.

This icon represents a Substituted drive. This is a drive which has used the DOS "SUBST" command which associates a path with a drive letter.


General Info: Hints
Helpful Hints

When entering information into the Warn Bell dialog box, use the Enter key to step through each value. After entering the Free Space and Percentage thresholds, the next drive will automatically be selected and be ready for input. The mouse must be used on the OK button to confirm the entered values.

Select your most common settings for the Drive menu, Warn Bell, Update Rate and Always On Top then use the Save Config option to save the current configuration. This will ensure the next time you start FDS, that you'll have the configuration you want.

If you are running FDS on a net work, it is recommended to set the Update Rate... to not less than 10 second intervals. Although the information retrieved by FDS is cached locally, I would not recommend going below 10 seconds.

If you have any comments or suggestions contact me via CompuServe:

Mark Hamilton [76555,143]