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From: drew@objy.com (Drew Wade)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re:  Norton Utilities Oddity
Message-ID: <1990Dec28.203018.28195@objy.com>
Date: 28 Dec 90 20:30:18 GMT
Sender: drew@objy.com
Distribution: na
Organization: Objectivity Inc.
Lines: 52

I earlier posted a question about a situation in which Norton Utilities and
Apple's Disk First Aid disagreed about how to repair a damaged disk, and a
mild complaint that Norton's phone tech. support couldn't help me.  The
following came to me by email from Norton, who request it be posted.  It's
nice to hear the explanation and even nicer to see quality support!
(I still see no other altertaive than reformat disk...to ease my paranoid
feelings...but good to understand it.)
-Drew Wade
drew@objy.com
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Subject: Norton Disk Doctor versus Disk First Aid
 
 Drew Wade,
 I have seen the situation you describe (Norton Disk Doctor and Disk First Aid 
 fighting with each other) a few times, and the cause of the problem each time
 has been the same.  The problem is caused by a file that was partially but not
 completely deleted (this happens most often if the Mac crashes while in the 
 middle of emptying the trash, but other events can cause it to happen too).  
 When this happens, the directory information is inconsistent, and NDD and DFA 
 disagree whether the orphaned file fragments should be rescued, or put 
 to sleep permanently.  NDD leaves the file fragments there in case someone
 wants to rescue them later, and DFA tries to free up the space that the
 fragments are using.  Unfortunately, neither program fixes the problem 
 completely, so they end up fighting with each other for the last word.
  
  If this is the same situation that is happening with your disk, it is not a 
  serious problem worth worring about.  It just means that a file that you
  thought was deleted is still using up some space on your disk, even though the
  file no longer appears in the Finder.  Until we update Norton Disk Doctor to 
  fix this problem automatically, it is not worth the effort for you to try to 
  fix it (except for peace of mind knowing that your disk is clean).  The only 
  options presently are to reformat the disk, or do some surgery to get rid of 
  the orphaned file fragments.  This can be done but takes some time.

  I am concerned about your comment, "I called Norton and they seemed 
  unknowledgeable and uninterested in helping".  I don't know who you talked to,
  and I don't want to make up any excuses, but I suspect that you might have
  just caught one of them on a busy day.  They are usually very helpful and try
  to do their best to solve a problem even if it takes some research and giving
  you a call back.

  Hope this helps,

  Marvin Carlberg
  Peter Norton Computing/Symantec
  mcarlberg@mcimail.com

-- 
----
Drew Wade
drew@objy.com