From: dfhdf@charon.dfh.dk
Subject: Harddisk Compression Replies 
Date: Mon, 10 May 93 11:10:00 PDT 

This is a compilation of the replies I received from Info-Mac by asking the 
following question:

"I'm thinking of buying either Times Two or AutoDoubler. I have a Mac Classic
4/40 and I'd very much like to know if I'll experience noticeable performance
loss when these utilities compresses/decompresses in the background?"

I seems that the conclusion is that if you've got a Classic (or similar low
performance computer) you should go for an external harddrive. On other
machines your machine's performance falls of course, but hopefully you won't
notice it as much as with the Classic.

For more information read the file "times-two.txt" archived at sumex-aim as
    mac/info-mac/report/times-two.txt

Hope this little bit helps someone
    Morten Sidelmann (Internet: dfhdf@charon.dfh.dk)

==============================================================================
From:    HOLT@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Brett Holt)

I use AutoDoubler on a Classic (4M RAM, 52M HD).  Although I am reasonably
satisfied with it, there is a definite performance loss; you can really tell
when it's opening a file that has been compressed vs. one that has not.  In
my opinion, the Classic is so slow anyway that I don't really find it to be
much of an annoyance.  I've never found any problems (flaky behavior) that
were introduced by AutoDoubler.  If you're really desperate for a little more
HD space, and can't afford to buy a bigger drive, then AutoDoubler is a
reasonable solution.

Good luck,

    Brett Holt  **  holt@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov

==============================================================================
From: iedh1@agt.gmeds.com (Daniel J. Hofferth 230-4791 AGT/8896)

Hi,

Check out the sumex-aim /info-mac/report directory for a file called
"times-two.txt".  This has some thoughts that may be useful to you.

I've just read a short description of Times-Two in MacWorld or MacUser or
MacWeek or.... something... that notes a 50% slowdown in file access on
68000 based Macs (like your Classic).  They clocked the penalty on 68030
based Macs at about 15%.

I was considering buying it (I've got a Classic II 4/40), but I eventually
opted for an external 120M HD.  I read review after review discouraging
use of disk compressors... the general consensus being that they all have
their good points but they all have a variety of limitations inherent in
their design and they all invite a variety of troubles.  I finally
followed the advice I read most often, "If you can afford the real thing
(a bigger drive), buy it."

Dan Hofferth
iedh1@agt.gmeds.com

==============================================================================
From: jvandyk@iastate.edu (John VanDyk)

Last fall I bought a PowerBook 145 with a 40 MB hard drive, which, as you
know, is much too small. So I sprung for AutoDoubler, and luckily bought it
just before version 2.0 came out and so was eligible for a free upgrade.

I have never experienced any problems with AutoDoubler.

AutoDoubler only compresses when the computer is inactive, i.e. no mouse or
keyboard interaction for a user-specified period (I have mine set on 3
minutes). So there is no performance loss for compressing files, since you
are not using the processor anyway.

Decompression can take a while, especially on a Classic. What seems to tie
it up is if you compress many small files that it has to uncompress when
you open the application, e.g. all the little trinkets that come with
SuperPaint or Excel.

The AutoDoubler Internal Compressor is a lifesaver. It allows you compress
files in your system folder like control panels, etc. The only program I've
had problems with is Eudora 1.3.1, which caused some problems when I used
the AIC on it. But all my control panels and things are AIC'd with no
problems. I estimate that I have about 60+MB of stuff on my 40 (actually
41.6 after I did the repartition trick) MB hard drive.

Peace,

John

==============================================================================