Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rpi!uwm.edu!psuvax1!hydra!zaccone From: zaccone@jasper.bucknell.edu (zaccone - 1393) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: StuffIt Deluxe is too slow! Message-ID: Date: 14 May 91 21:52:32 GMT References: <1991May14.125138.8162@mmm.serc.3m.com> Sender: news@hydra.bucknell.edu Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.misc Distribution: comp Organization: Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa. Lines: 27 In-reply-to: pejacoby@mmm.serc.3m.com's message of 14 May 91 12:51:38 GMT In article <1991May14.125138.8162@mmm.serc.3m.com> pejacoby@mmm.serc.3m.com (Paul E. Jacoby) writes: First off, which version of StuffIt Deluxe are you using? There are supposed to be speed improvements in 2.0 (2.01 is the latest); I have yet to find them... :-( Second, are you stuffing with "Best" mode? If so, TURN IT OFF! Use "Best Guess" only. The "Best" mode will try EACH of the compression algorithms and keep only the file which is smallest. As you might guess, it can take a HUGE amount of time to try all four options. I'd guess that is what you are seeing. Try it yourself. Use DiskCopy to make a .image file of an 800K *blank* disk. Use StuffIt Deluxe version 2.0.1, best guess, and don't allow background processes. (Aladdin says this combo gives the best performance.) Compess the file with both StuffIt Deluxe and Compact Pro. On a Mac IIci, Compact Pro ran 360 times faster, and the file it produced was 11 times smaller! I'm not claiming that this result is characteristic. I've seen instances where StuffIt Deluxe performs better than Compact Pro, but it's always by a small amount. There are many more cases where Compact Pro performs dramatically better. Rick Zaccone -- zaccone@bucknell.edu