Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!dalcs!dalcsug!dalegass
From: dalegass@dalcsug.UUCP (Dale Gass)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Norton Commander
Message-ID: <449@dalcsug.UUCP>
Date: 22 Apr 88 12:28:58 GMT
References: <297@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU> <4330055@hpindda.HP.COM> <1140@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu>
Reply-To: dalegass@dalcsug.UUCP (Dale Gass)
Organization: Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada
Lines: 39

>I found XTREE unusable, even though it has a superior interface, and
>better functionality.  XTREE scans *all* the disk directories as it
>loads, which takes a *long* time on my turbo XT w/a 30 meg disk.  Norton
>reads each directory as it goes there, which is much more efficient. 
>
>>John Hardin

I agree that the scanning of the directories can take quite a bit of time.
I was surprised and happy to learn that this time can be quite easily cut
from 30 seconds to 3 seconds with a minimal effort.

Since every directory must be read to start XTREE, it's performance can
be dramatically increased by moving all your directories to the beginning
of the hard disk, so there are minimal seek times involved in scanning
the directories.

Optimizers such as DOG will allow you to move directories wherever you want
them.  I believe Norton's Speed-Disk puts directories at the beginning of the
disk as well, although there has been some traffic on the net questioning
SD's overall reliability.  DOG works great for me; you can just move the
directories if you want, not having to optimize the whole disk: this
directory optimization can only take a minute or so...(on my 50 meg HD).

My 50 meg now takes only 4 seconds to start XTREE (and it's been awhile
since I optimized my directories).

Another really nice side effect is that *any* program which scans the
disk is dramatically speeded up; these include CHKDSK, WHEREIS, DU, among
others.

On a side note: I find PCTOOLS to really bad on scanning the disk, because
it seems to scan the disk for *every* operation you choose (although
this is speeded up by the optimization of directories).  Also, I find
PCTOOLS interfact to be quite awkward (although it does offer certain
handy features that XTREE doesn't)

PCTOOLS fans: no flames, Please.

-dalegass@dalcsug.uucp