Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!tektronix!tekig5!danm
From: danm@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Daniel Milliron)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Diskfit vs. Retrospect
Summary: My dream for a disk archiver
Message-ID: <3890@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>
Date: 15 Mar 89 21:12:29 GMT
References: <8903140523.AA13075@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu> <27272@apple.Apple.COM> <1303@xn.LL.MIT.EDU>
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.
Lines: 31

In article <1303@xn.LL.MIT.EDU>, delaney@XN.LL.MIT.EDU (John R. Delaney) writes:
> 
> Why do I want to know? Because I very much want a genuine
> archive maintenance utility that will allow me to keep on
> floppies versions of files that I don't use any more but am
> too conservative (read chicken) to permanently delete.
> 
> John

Recently, I came up with an idea for a disk archiver that I don't mind sharing
because I will never have the time to implement it anyway.

My ideal disk archiver would create a virtual hard disk of infinite length
that has every file I own.  This virtual disk would be implemented as a
combination of my hard disk(s) and the zillions of floppies I have floating
around.  My real hard disk(s) would be used as a most-recently-used file
cache.

The icon for the virtual disk would replace my hard disk icon(s) on the
desktop.  When I open a file, the disk archiver would determine if it is
resident on a hard (read "fast") disk.  If it isn't then the disk archiver
would ask me to insert the floppy that contains the file.  It would then
copy it over to the hard disk, maintaining the most-recently-used files
on the faster medium.  When the faster hard disk(s) become too full,
the archiver would put the least recently used files on floppy, collaborating
with the me the user to insert diskettes.

This would be a wonderful utility, IMHO.


Dan Milliron