🚀 go-pugleaf

A few days ago I posted about problems I was having with 
SpaceSaver.  The people at Aladdin asked me to post their
reply.  Here it is with my reply.  I hope this is helpful to
someone.

>SpaceSaver provides Retrospect with compressed data so the type/creator will
>belong to SpaceSaver. You say "some were saved with file type 'SPSV' and
>creator 'SIT!'", but I believe that essentially ALL the compressed files had
>SpaceSaver's type/creator. The files that get expanded are Retrospect files and
>files indicated as "BIG".

You're telling me that Retrospect is going to save my files as
'SPSV'/'SIT!', so that when I restore them from tape, I'll have to change the
creators back myself?  This seems to make the product useless.

>When SpaceSaver is installed, it performs its compression transparently and
>that's why you saw 'TEXT'/'MSWD' when looking at a Microsoft Word file that was
>compressed with SpaceSaver. When SpaceSaver is not installed, or turned off,
>that same Microsoft Word file will appear in its "real" state, which is a
>SpaceSaver file with a SpaceSaver icon and type/creator. For robustness and for
>access to SpaceSaver files under conditions where system extensions are
>disabled (and therefore SpaceSaver is not installed), StuffIt Deluxe launches
>and expands SpaceSaver files when they are double-clicked. StuffIt Deluxe will
>not automatically quit after this process.

SS *was* running after I backed up with Retrospect, and my files on my
hard disk were now SPSV/SIT! files, and there was no way to get the
information back without manually changing the type and creator
myself.  They were compressed, but opening them simply triggered
StuffIt Deluxe which then showed empty files.  There was no way to get
to my data.  I had to look up the type/creator combos for some files
myself to restore them.

>SpaceSaver is so robust that even when you changed the type/creators of the
>files, SpaceSaver *still* expanded them when you opened them. If you repeat
>this experiment, I'm sure you'll see that the files were still actually
>compressed before you expanded them.

Yes, SS *expanded* them, but there was no way to get to the data.  I
was left with blank files.

>There are two things you mentioned that we should investigate: you said
>SpaceSaver crashed Retrospect at some point, and that Retrospect complained
>during verification of SpaceSaver files.
> 
>I'd be happy to discuss all of this functionality over the phone with you for
>your better understanding. If you provide me with a phone number, I'll give you
>a call. If I'm not available, ask for Greg Friedman.
> 
>- Marco A. Gonzalez

David Fry                                  fry@math.harvard.EDU
Division of Applied Sciences               fry@huma1.bitnet
Harvard University                      ...!harvard!huma1!fry
Cambridge, MA  02138