Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!mailrus!ncar!gatech!udel!burdvax!dave
From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Comments on S.U.M. (long)
Keywords: Symantec, SUM, S.U.M.
Message-ID: <11238@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Date: 24 Aug 89 19:01:56 GMT
Sender: news@PRC.Unisys.COM
Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA
Lines: 194
References:


I recently bought S.U.M. 1.1 from Symantec.  This note details my
experiences with that product.

This is not the latest version of S.U.M.  That's because I got it on a
Friday and Symantec announced the new version on Monday.  I sent in my
registration card but haven't heard from them yet.  So these comments
may or may not be applicable to S.U.M. 2.0.  (Sum II?)

S.U.M. appears to consist of two primary components: Guardian, which
is supposed to keep track of where your files are on disk (essentially
a second directory) in the event of a disk crash, or if you want to
recover a file you deleted; and a number of recovery tools you use
after a crash, to try to pick up the pieces.  The latter were
inherited from the old MacZap program, and probably still work pretty
well.

I ordered S.U.M. at the same time that I ordered a new 80 Meg hard
disk.  I first installed S.U.M. on my old HD20; then, when my new disk
arrived, I put it on that, too.  Most of the following comments are
about the first installation (on the HD20).

Major gripe #1:  Installation

I began by reading the User Guide Addendum and most of the User 
Guide.  The installation went reasonably smoothly (creation of the 
SUM Startup Disk depends on some later steps having been 
performed, but that's minor).  HOWEVER, when I tried to "Install 
Guardian Volume Save," the program told me that I did not have 
enough contiguous blocks.

I followed the instructions presented (move stuff off the hard disk
temporarily), clearing over 1 Meg.  This was not enough.  I thought
perhaps HD Tuneup would make some space for me, so I ran it.  This
appears to have been a serious blunder (see below).  I used Symantec
Tools to look at the hard disk.  Then I cleared out 3.5 Meg on the
hard disk, and tried "Install Guardian Volume Save" again.  Again it
failed.  So I ran HD Tuneup again, looked at the hard disk, and found
that my largest contiguous block of disk space was smaller than
before!  So I put everything back on my hard disk and went to bed.

The next day I started again, clearing out space on my hard disk.
Finally, when I had cleared 8.4 Meg, "Install Guardian Volume Save"
finally worked (taking about a second, which at this point seemed like
adding insult to injury).  As my hard disk is only an Apple HD20, this
seems, shall we say, excessive.  And this thing is supposed to be
useable for floppies?

I put my files back on the hard disk, and tried to update the 
guardian volume save file.  Much to my surprise, this worked--I 
fully expected not to have enough contiguous memory left.  
However, I would like to know whether I can expect it to continue 
working.  Does it reserve adequate space for itself?

Total installation time, approximately 8 hours, 7 of which were spent
shuffling files on and off floppies.

When my new hard disk arrived, installation went smoothly; S.U.M.
isn't hard to install on a brand-new disk with nothing on it.  There
is, however, one slight problem: The manual has nothing (zero, zilch)
to say about installing Guardian on systems with more than one hard
disk.  So I don't really know if Guardian works on the boot disk, the
volume it is installed on, all mounted volumes, or just what.  I did
what seemed reasonable, and a little snooping around shows that
Guardian's invisible files are on both hard disks, but I don't know
what's in those files.  So at this point, I don't know what's being
kept track of.  When I get some more time, I'll do some more snooping
and figure it out.

Major gripe #2:  HDTuneup

From what I can tell, this program appears to take a very
short-sighted view of disk management.  My theory is that for each
file it looks for a block of contiguous space large enough to hold it,
then moves the file to that space.  (This theory is supported by the
illustration on page 4-3.)  Unless it is carefully done, the cost of
defragmenting files this way is that free space gets really seriously
fragmented, so that new files are harder and harder to fit in; this
will likely result in poorer future performance, and may well be
inferior to the System's native algorithm.  My experience with
"Install Guardian Volume Save" certainly suggests that this is the
case.

I may well be wrong in this, as the manual provides very little to 
go on.  Unless someone at Symantec can explain why I am mistaken, 
I will shortly post to the internet a description of this problem, 
along with a warning that, in my opinion, HD Tuneup should never be 
used.

Major gripe #3:  The Manual

The manual is obviously written for "the rest of them."  I understand
and appreciate the value of such an approach, but in this case the
manual carefully rations out not quite enough information to actually
use the program.

The manual does state that S.U.M. will consume about 1% of the space
on your hard disk.  HOWEVER, it does not mention that this space must
be in one contiguous block, nor does it suggest any techniques for
acquiring such a block.  (This is apart from the question of whether
such a severe demand is technically justified.  It may be, in which
case the manual ought to explain the justification.)

I have not tried to use HD partition.  The manual tells all about
which buttons to push; but I'm willing to bet that the disk has to be
empty or nearly empty in order to create a partition.  Maybe not; the
manual doesn't say.  From the chatter on the net I gather that S.U.M.
creates some kind of "pseudo-partitions"--I don't know, but my new
hard disk came with UniMac partitioning software, so I don't ever plan
to try to use Symantec's HD partition.

The manual does not say what the assorted files are for, hence the
user has little information that can be used for determining which
files must be kept on the disk and which may be relegated to floppies.
This is particularly true of the invisible files, which are alluded to
in the manual, but not named.  In this matter, I can make some
educated guesses, but have no real assurance that they are correct.

Minor gripes

The user manual is poorly edited.  The most pervasive error is the 
frequent reference to "loosing" files.

Included with S.U.M. were copies of Font/DA Mover 3.6 (not 3.8) and 
TeachText 1.1 (not 1.2).  I don't understand why newly-purchased
software can't include the latest versions of system software.  Older
versions of Fon/DA Mover do not understand NFNTs and can screw up your
newer fonts.

There seems to be no way to build a S.U.M. Startup Disk as described 
in the manual, and still have room to back up the Volume Save File on 
the same floppy, as is recommended.  However, I could do this if I can 
omit "Disk Clinic" from the floppy.

The manual makes a big deal about always accessing the programs via 
Disk Clinic.  In italics:  "You should not launch a program directly from 
the desktop unless you understand disk structures and the symptoms 
of disk problems."  However, no explanation is given, and (for the use I 
have so far made of S.U.M.), Disk Clinic is just a 197K Finder 
substitute, which I could well do without, particulary on my SUM 
Startup floppy.  What, precisely, must I know?  What, if anything, 
does this program do for me?  For some of us, at least, explanation 
works better than intimidation.

In view of the carefully rationed information given by the User's
Manual, I do think that a technical appendix is in order.  This manual
provides much less information than the MacZap manual (or "Inside
Switcher" or the Fedit+ documentation).  The User's Manual does
mention an MFS/HFS Book "(see enclosed brochure)," which I would be
interested in purchasing.  Unfortunately, no such brochure was enclosed.

The Signature Files include files for Word 1.0 and Word 3.0; however, 
I am using Word 4.0.  Perhaps the Signature File for Word 3.0 will also 
work for 4.0?  I guess I'll never know unless/until I have a disk
crash severe enough to require the use of Signature Files.

Summary

If you have a disk crash, the MacZap tools incorporated in S.U.M. have
a good reputation, and are probably worth having.  If I were to do it
over again, I'd wait until I had that crash, *then* buy S.U.M.

Guardian may be a technically sound program; you will probably find it
satisfactory if (1) you have only one hard disk, (2) you have lots of
room on the disk, and (3) you don't mind not knowing what it does.

I believe the disk defragmentation utility makes things worse, and I
don't plan ever to use it again.  Someday I'll probably buy Disk
Express instead.

I have no comment on the partitioning software, as my new hard disk
(80+ Meg Seagate from Hard Disks Int'l, for $599!) came with UniMacs
partitioning software.

Disclaimers

(1) There's a lot I don't know about this software (and yes, I did
RTFM), so I am not the world's most informed reviewer;

(2) I have version 1.1; if I get a free upgrade to 2.0 I'll post a
brief addendum (but I certainly won't spend any money to upgrade!);

(3) These criticisms should not be generalized to Symantec's other
products; Think Pascal (nee Lightspeed Pascal) is superb, and I
understand Think C is also great (but haven't used it myself).

(4) The facts are reported above as accurately as I could manage; the
interpretation of those facts, and my resultant opinions, are mine and
mine alone.

-- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com)
-- Unisys Corp. / Paoli Research Center / PO Box 517 / Paoli PA  19301
-- Any resemblance between my opinions and those of my employer is improbable.
* 20th anniversary?  Yeah, but it's 17 years since the LAST man on the moon! *