🚀 go-pugleaf

imran@panix.com (Imran Anwar) writes [about Stuffit SpaceSaver]:

>I do not know how to get rid of it as when I removed it from the damned
>system I could not access the files it had compressed.  It is so
>time consumuing that it will take over the machine and not STOP even if
>stop is clicked.  It causes repeated crashes on a machine that never 
>creashed before.  It DELAYS ALL program operations as even the smallest
>resouirce that the running program needs is compressed and has to be
>expandd.  On top of that the big/small naming idea is STUPID.  What am
>I supposed to do, rename all 1500 files I have onmy disk.  So do I run
>BIG Wordperfect and BIG Microphone II etc etc?

I think it decompresses all resources of an application before running
it, so there should be no delay once it launches. As you say, it is
probably wise to label commonly-used applications so they won't be
compressed. On System 7, you can use Labels instead of the "big" naming.

Try installing Magic Menu. Then you can decompress your whole disk
in one operation by selecting the disk and choosing "Expand" from the
Finder menu. Actually, I'm not sure if this goes into all the folders
or if it only goes to a certain depth, so you may have to Expand a lot
of subfolders. Make sure you go into the Control Panels and turn
auto-compression off so it won't undo your work.

>The program does not keep track of what files are being used or not
>That would be a better approach to stuffing stuff, nt just file creation
>date, as all daily use applications I have eg WP, 123, Photosdhop. etc
>obviously have dates older than the date/"before" period qualifier in
>SS.

I agree that it would be really nice if SpaceSaver kept a list of files
which were accessed, rather than relying on the Finder's "modification"
date, which doesn't necessarily change for applications.

>In addition, the program is SO STUPID it cannot even recognize what files
>it has already compressed.  So I have three or four very large image files
>on my disk and every fifteen minutes or so it recompresses those samefiles
>over and over.  It just keeps Going and going and going - it is now
>going back to MacConnection or Warehouse wherever I got it - AS SOON AS
>I find out how to get the damned thing off the system without having any
>permanently compressed files.

I haven't seen this happening on my system, although after leaving it
running overnight I decided to turn the autocompression off. This way
it got a chance to compress all the files I rarely use, but it won't
recompress those which I've used since. Maybe I'll let it run again for
a while in a month or two to make a little more space.

>It causes Microphone to crash, Wordperfect to crash, and Compuserve Info
>anager to crash - those are what I use daily - so I am not even sure what
>else it causes problems with.

It caused Kermit to crash when I tried to transfer a compressed file.
The solution? Label (or rename) the folder containing Kermit so it
won't be compressed. Move files to this folder before uploading. (When
you move a file into a folder labeled this way, the file is automatically
expanded.) I also found it necessary to label the folder containing
the modules for my copy of the Darkside screensaver to prevent it from
crashing. I imagine the same applies to AfterDark? Also I had to label
the secondary System folder on my other hard disk to keep it from 
getting compressed. (Spacesaver knows not to compress the ACTIVE 
System folder. Note that just labelling something doesn't seem to
cause all files within it to be expanded if they were already compressed.
I think you have to Expand them manually in some cases -- not sure why.

>I have seen DiskDoubler and AutoDoubler at work and liked DD (not that
>used to AD) but I think I will manually compress the files whenever I need
>it done.  I hate having SS come up after a crash asking you t remove the
>files it created in a
>stupid Temporary Items folder - for me the only temporary item is this
>program itself - pity though that Stuffit 3 has soime very useful file
>transaltions built in - I will opt for the straight upgrade to 3.0
>and get rid of this SpaceSaver HairRaiser program

I forwarded some of my complaints and suggestions to Alladin but
haven't heard back from them. I'm keeping SpaceSaver, but as I said
I'm not leaving it on at all times. I wish Alladin had included a
suggestion in their documentation, to label critical files as "never
compress" before turning automatic compression on. As it happened,
I had to spend a few hours recovering from crashes and decompressing
files myself.

-Ralph Gonzalez

-- 
Ralph Gonzalez, Computer Science, Rutgers Univ., Camden, NJ
Phone: (609) 757-6122; Internet: rgonzal@elbereth.rutgers.edu
--