DisKeeper: because it’s not the size of the disk that counts, it’s how you use it.
DisKeeper is a disk management utility written for the following Macintosh users:
1) “power users” whose monster hard disks have become cluttered with junk downloaded from who-knows-where
2) “average users” whose hard disk has become cluttered with junk buried several folders deep
3) “network administrators” who are endlessly updating their users’ software
4) “people” who download and run software such as this without discretion
5) “anyone” who uses a disk
DisKeeper is trained to do do the following tricks:
1) list all your files (you can’t turn this feature off)
2) list identical files
3) list “empty” files (files of zero length, both forks)
4) list “special” files (applications, INITs, etc.) with version numbers
5) list “orphan” files (whose creator can’t be found -usually plain “documents”)
6) list locked files
7) list invisible files
8) list empty folders
9) list folders containing only one item
10) list invisible folders
The output is a (Microsoft Word) TEXT file called with the fields separated by tabs. The folder and file numbers are separate running totals. And…
DisKeeper also has the ability to “delete” things. For example, it can be set to delete identical files. Unless you really know what you’re doing, don’t use any “delete” options. Use “ask” instead and DisKeeper will ask, for each item, if you want to delete it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Actually, DisKeeper won’t “delete” anything. It creates a folder on the root level of each disk and moves the item(s) there, so stuff can be recovered, if necessary.
For example, when DisKeeper “deletes”
myDisk:junk:myFile
it really just moves it to
myDisk:DisKeeper Trash:myDisk:junk:myFile
==> It’s up to you to actually trash DisKeeper’s trash folder(s).
PROBLEMS/CAVEATS:
DisKeeper will not run on a 64K ROM machine because it needs HFS. Get an upgrade. Also, DisKeeper may crash when started from an old System. It successfully bombed on a 512K Mac running System 1. :-)
Although DisKeeper is MultiFinder-aware, it’s much better to run it under the Finder. It will be faster and have more memory to play with.
Turning the control panel cache on speeds things up, too. 32K should be sufficient in most cases.
DisKeeper will complain if a file’s length has changed since it first saw it. This is caused by other applications changing files. Again, the solution is to run DisKeeper by itself.
DisKeeper will try to create a unique trash folder. If “DisKeeper Trash” can’t be created, it tries “DisKeeper Trash A” and so on, through the alphabet. If it runs out of letters, it will give up. This will never happen unless you don’t trash its trash.
For some reason, the Finder does not duplicate resource forks perfectly. Perhaps it changes the order of the resources? Since DisKeeper compares file as streams of bytes, they can appear different. I hope to address this problem in the future, perhaps a resource-by-resource comparison. Suggestions anyone?
DisKeeper will not attempt to trash locked items or items in locked disks/folders. It will however, list locked files in their proper categories in the output file. This feature can be used to protect files. Someday, there may be an “unlock and trash” option. NOTE: As far as I can tell, the Finder ignores the “locked” bit for folders. Perhaps this is (just) for AppleShare?
When scanning for identical files, DisKeeper ignores empty files. They have their own category.
NOTE: If this option is set to (automatic) “Delete”, DisKeeper will keep the first file it found and delete all other unlocked duplicates.
The version number reported for “special” files tries to use the “vers” resource as defined by Apple Tech note 189. Failing this, it tries to extract a number from the gobbledygook in resource ID=0 of the same type as the creator code of the file. If that fails, it looks in the file’s name. This usually does the trick.
DisKeeper can’t scan more than 10,000 files, 3,000 folders, or 99 volumes at a time. This limit will be removed in the future. Please pardon the inconvenience.
A type or creator code which contains unprintable characters will be printed as an integer. The problem is that it might be a four-digit integer, which would look like a legitimate creator code. However, this will probably never, ever happen. But there’s probably some joker out there who will create a file of type “6666” or 6666, just to prove me wrong. Avoid these people.
REVISION HISTORY
People that upload bad software are condemned to repeat it.
v1.0 2/3/90 Release version. Or so I thought.
v1.0.1 2/4/90 Removed a bit of code (there for debugging purposes) that printed the file numbers to the output file as it scanned for duplicates. Oops.
v1.0.2 2/14/90 Fixed a problem causing DisKeeper to barf if it encountered a filename (like InitPicker) containing an ascii-zero. Colorized the About box to death. Just call me Ted from now on.
v1.0.3 2/14/90 The next official version after 1.0.1. Version 1.0.2 was copied before it was complete, so I upped the version to avoid confusion.
FUTURE PLANS:
As a network administrator, I will be using this myself. Future features may include, but are not necessarily limited to:
Scan two volumes and make them identical. This is for people who shuttle a removeable disk from home to work and want to keep the disks identical.
More categories. There are many special file types that I’ve missed: partition files, System files, etc. They can be included at your behest. These may even be user-definable someday.
Scan specified disks only with optional prompt-for-floppies. Right now, DisKeeper scans all mounted volumes.
The capability to “blacklist” certain files, such as “Word Temp” files. Seek and destroy. It could also check a file’s “version” against a “current versions” list and trash “obsolete” files or even update them from a file server. This is theoretically possible. Hmmm…
A resource gatherer. Example: scan all files and put all PICTs into one (big) file. Compile a monster DA file.
Preferences/settings, including a default save-output-to <pathname:filename>. For instance, the pathname could be a network administrator’s AppleShare drop-folder.
An INIT that launches DisKeeper when it receives a signal from across the network, to save a network administrator the trouble of physically visiting each computer. A new breed of “couch administrators” could evolve. This is far in the future because I haven’t the foggiest idea how to implement this. A remote-control utility like Timbuktu can do this today.
Perhaps DisKeeper could be made into an “AppleShare concurrent” application. I don’t even know where to begin looking for info.
FUTURE NON-PLANS:
DisKeeper will never report “computer” info. Several utilities already exist for this. MacEnvy is a good example.
Virus detection will never be part of DisKeeper, except possibly for generic “file-has-been-modified” messages, based on a checksum. Again, there are many existing utilities for this.
IRKY’S POOP:
DisKeeper was written on a Macintosh Plus using THINK’s object C 4.0. It was my excuse to learn OOP, which is really, like… wow! Programmers’ paradise. Go Symantec!
Most suggestions are most welcome. And don’t forget your shareware payment.
Irky-bird is a grey African parrot. Kind of like an alarm clock you can’t shut off. Proceeds will go to the “Food for Irky” campaign. We hope that if we feed him, he will stop eating his feathers.
