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Messages - MerleOne [ switch to compact view ]

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801
Official Announcements / Re: February 2008 Software Drawing Winners
« on: February 18, 2008, 10:13 AM »
;D
Thanks to DonationCoder and to MetaProducts!  Offline Explorer Pro is really powerful, I'd better start saving some room from my HDD....
:Thmbsup:

802
Really great best of 2007.  I especially liked, among many other things, the link to the articlie on data visulaization : http://www.smashingm...n-modern-approaches/

And many more.

Thanks !

803
General Software Discussion / Re: The great defrag shootout
« on: January 26, 2008, 01:00 AM »
I've been using that Puran Defrag that someone mentioned, its a good little defrag tool, and according to perfect disks analysis of my drives, it does a better job than perfectdisk at defragging, and the optimization and so on seems to be on a par.  Doesnt have a fancy gui or anything, but works and works musch faster than perfect disk for me.  http://www.puransoftware.com/

Edit - pd8 pro,  i havent updated/graded whatever

I strongly support this.  PuranDefrag also has a powerful command line option which makes it possible to add some features not available from the GUI, like defrag only +  optimize dir (without filling gaps).

2007-01-26 update : they have just issued V4.5 that add a basic file mapping display, showing before and after defrag.  Also some other improvements for boot-time defrag according to the release notes.




804
Living Room / Re: Name the screensaver.
« on: January 24, 2008, 12:50 AM »
Merle I think there is a setting I have overlooked. Previewing substrate works very well. I bet there is some powersaving thingie in my gnome-settings
If the delay for blanking your screen is shorter than the one used for activating the screensaver then you should only have a blank screen....

805
Living Room / Re: Name the screensaver.
« on: January 23, 2008, 04:37 PM »
Well the truth is: I have yet to see the screensaver in action.

So far the screen only went blank, I guess I'll have to ask someone with more inticate knowledge of gnome-screensaver about this.

You could try to update the drivers of your graphic card to the latest version, if not already done.  This can solve many problems !

806
Coupon : PD94FREE ; valid until December, 31st, from http://www.raxco.com...cts_all_download.cfm

807
General Software Discussion / Re: The great defrag shootout
« on: December 12, 2007, 02:14 PM »
Since today, PD4 price is reduced to 14.95USD (instead of 24.95USD) for a limited time, see https://www.donation...06.msg90628#msg90628

808
http://www.puransoft...an-Defrag-Order.html

Puran Defrag is a recently appeared defragmenter that gives excellent results according to those who have tested it.  More info from http://donnedwards.o...xx-puran-defrag.html

I am currently evaluating it on my PC :
Good points :
- it is quite fast
- Re-defrag (after a few days) is even faster
- Boot time defrag is working nicely
- I really feel the difference before/after

Not so good points :
- no graphical display
- set it and forget it mode takes too much resources and applies to all drives (on my system)

809
Found Deals and Discounts / -50% on TuneUp 2007
« on: December 12, 2007, 04:32 AM »
Today (2007-12-12) on Bitsdujour (http://www.bitsdujou....aspx%3freview%3d167).  I use the 2006 version which is excellent.  Upgrade fee was too high but with this offer I might be tempted...  Have to evaluate it first.

Warning : 2008 is probably out anytime soon.

810
General Software Discussion / Re: The great defrag shootout
« on: December 11, 2007, 07:36 AM »
Great article indeed.  It helped me discover a new challenger in this competitive landscape : Puran Defrag 4.0

GUI is extremely basic (no graphical display), very little to configure (which is a plus for many users).  I have evaluated PD4 on several XP machines and I concur with the overall conclusion of this article : it delivers very well what it is supposed to.

1/ It is fast
2/ Defrag disk are very well optimized and I can feel the difference
3/ Re-Defrag is very quick
4/ Boot Time Defrag seems OK

I would have liked the ability to exclude files and a graphical display of the "after" file layout.

811
Living Room / Re: Any old Amiga users among us?
« on: December 10, 2007, 12:49 AM »
  ...
There was/is a fix for the slow directory access on a disk full of small files.  I have it installed on mine and it makes all the difference in the world.  I can't even remember the name of the program though.....  I even have it on one of my many Amiga floppy disk....
 

SFS ?  PFS ?  Or B.A.D., like Blitz-A-Disk, a very efficient floppy defragmenter...

812
Living Room / Re: Any old Amiga users among us?
« on: December 08, 2007, 01:34 PM »
Hi All,

I also have been a die-hard Amiga Fan.  I still have an A1200 with an external HDD and a ton of floppies, alas all has been flooded in my basement some years ago and I am pretty sure everything is ruined.  Anyway, I found a very supporting company, Cloanto, which has apparently has bought the Amiga rights (Kickstart and OS).  They have issued over the time a set of CD/DVD, very well done, which incorporate recent versions of emulators and even video from within the company, including the "death bed vigil", that is the party marking the end of the company.  Also interviews by the late Jay Miner.  I strongly recommend it.  More details at :

http://www.amigaforever.com/

813
Living Room / Re: Name the screensaver.
« on: November 30, 2007, 10:41 AM »
Actually the best screensaver I found some time ago was made by William Latham, a UK artist.  Alas, it stopped working on XP.
See http://ourworld.comp...rk_Ayres/CompArt.htm

It was called organic art.

I really would like to find a working copy under XP...

814
Living Room / Re: Name the screensaver.
« on: November 29, 2007, 01:58 PM »

815
SFFS delta backup probably has to read through the entire file to check which range(s) have changed... that's take some time. But I haven't read up on how it does it, so it's just a guess :)
SFFS cuts the file in smaller parts, performs CRC on a part, same on the target file, and if CRCs differ, this part is updated, and so on.  When target is on a remote server, CRC is performed locally by a Windows service dedicated, so no big data transfer is required.
Smart - but still requires a lot of processing, compared to filter driver approach.
Actually it is quite fast and doesn't seem to take that much resources, except maybe HDD access.  Some years ago, Laplink used the same technique to update big files across modem links and it was quite effective, and computing power at that time was so much lower. Anyway, the best would be to test it in the real environment and see how it performs.

816
SFFS delta backup probably has to read through the entire file to check which range(s) have changed... that's take some time. But I haven't read up on how it does it, so it's just a guess :)

SFFS cuts the file in smaller parts, performs CRC on a part, same on the target file, and if CRCs differ, this part is updated, and so on.  When target is on a remote server, CRC is performed locally by a Windows service dedicated, so no big data transfer is required.

817
NTI Shadows seem to do what you are looking for :
http://www.ntius.com/shadow.asp
Does NTI do the filter driver thing?


If you mean by that partial file backup, I am almost sure it is not the case. Previous version of NTI shadow were pretty basic, I don't know the full details about this release but I would be surprised if it were the case.  Anyway, there is probably a time limited demo which could help you find out.  Sorry not to have more info !

818
NTI Shadows seem to do what you are looking for :
http://www.ntius.com/shadow.asp

819
Found Deals and Discounts / 20$ off XYplorer and lifetime license
« on: September 26, 2007, 02:05 PM »
Hi,

I just had an exchange with XYPlorer developer. I was asking him if there was a possible discount for DC members.

He told me basically no because it is currently discounted for everyone :

Current price is $29.50 for a lifetime license.  This offer will end on Oct-09-2007.
From Oct-10-2007 onwards it will be $49.95.

So if you're interested...

There is a minireview in the review area.  First impression is very good (I am a Total Commander Fan).


820
General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis True Image OR maybe not ???
« on: September 25, 2007, 01:21 AM »
Actually I am using a second HDD to save the images on.  But even if it wasn't the case, HDD hardware fault are fairly seldom nowadays.  Most restoration needs come from software I have installed that damaged somehow my system. And, as an extra security, I transfer the old images to an external USB HDD on a regular basis.

821
General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis True Image OR maybe not ???
« on: September 24, 2007, 02:11 PM »
For the moment I4W doesn't propose incremental/differential backups.  Also, backups are not encrypted whereas drivesnapshot also has encryption.

The strong point of I4W is its direct DVD burning engine that can create bootable restoration DVD.  I try to backup all my main partitions with it every month (I manage 4 PC at home).

I rely on Drive Snapshot for automated backup, the destination being a dedicated partition on each HDD.  When it's full, I either remove some differential backups or I transfer them to an external dedicated HDD.  When it's full, I then burn DVD.

822
General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis True Image OR maybe not ???
« on: September 24, 2007, 10:48 AM »
Actually there is an alternative one should really look at : drive snapshot from a German developer: http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/

This small footprint program is really very powerful, does differential imaging, allows for excluding files & folders, has many interesting options.  Combined with BartPE CD for bare metal restoration, it is quite powerful.

Can even image floppy disks and USB sticks.

For a more polished GUI, there is also O&O DiskImage 2.1.  I must say I have made many successful system disk (XP) restoration with drive snapshot, never really with diskimage 2.1.

DiskImage 2.1 also does incremental imaging and allows to merge incrementals with the base image if required.  Unfortunately incremental imaging is not faster than full imaging, it only saves space.  Drive snapshot differential imaging is much quicker.

Drive snapshot has a powerful yet easy command line interface that makes it simple to schedule backup using XP  task scheduler.  It seems O&O DI2.1 lacks any scheduling function.

Just my 2 cents.

823
I am so sorry I started this thread !  Really,  I am ashamed ! 

Distrix claims all of their products come with a 30-days refund if one is not satisfied.  I guess that's the case here ?

824
Found Deals and Discounts / Eastec Backup
« on: September 03, 2007, 09:46 AM »
This backup program is today's giveawayoftheday. Seems to be nice, especially since backup files are in zip format, hence non proprietary.  I have not tested it but one should ask for a free license anyway, at http://customer.east...otd/backup/index.htm, IMHO.

825
Actually, I wonder whether Disktrix can legally forbid such a publication ?

Perhaps mouser could use DC funds to find out the big secret and then post it to the web!

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