Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!mdisea!jackb From: jackb@MDI.COM (Jack Brindle) Subject: Re: System 7.0 Upgrades Message-ID: <1991May15.172622.2214@MDI.COM> Sender: news@MDI.COM Organization: Motorola, Mobile Data Division - Seattle, WA References: <52814@apple.Apple.COM> Date: Wed, 15 May 1991 17:26:22 GMT Lines: 22 In article francis@arthur.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) writes: >In article <52814@apple.Apple.COM> mjohnson@Apple.COM (Mark B. Johnson) writes: > >>The System 7 Finder offers users a new capability known as aliases. Aliases >>allow all Macintosh users to organize their system the way they prefer and puts >>information just a double-click away. An alias, usually about 2K in size, of > >*WHY* does it take so much space? That's simple. The file actually uses only about 34 bytes. BUT, everytime you create a file on a disk, and put something in it, the system uses an allocation block. On 40 meg hard disks, this is a 1k block of disk. I believe it is also 1k on floppies. For larger disks, the allocation blocks are larger. The system also strings allocation blocks together in an attempt to relieve fragmentation, so it is quite possible to get an extent of 2k instead of 1k. So, even though the alias file is small, you still use at least 1k when you create it. Are you REALLY worried about a measly 1k out of 40 Megabytes or so? Jack Brindle ham radio: wa4fib/7