CompuServe Messages

Gary, AmigaDOS does try to keep things in consecuitive sectors when it first writes files. But after a while, presuming you create and delete files…things do get fragmented. There's no real "best fit" algorithm, that is…DOS doesn't see it needs 40 consecuitive sectors, and thus look for a "hole" in the disk bitmap for 40 sectors. Part of this is because DOS doesn't necessairly know how big the file will be so it has no way of knowing how many consecuitive sectors to look for. Then there is also the fragmentation caused by directory and header sectors being scattered about. DOS does *seem* to try to keep file header blocks and the data sectors close to each other…but again, that may not always be possible. Thus…even a simple backup, quick format and restore can significantly speed up your disk. Optimization programs typically try to move things around so the files are all consecuitive. The only real advantage I see is in theory, you don't have to go thru the backup-restore cycle, it's all done for you. However, since I would never run an optimizer without first making a backup…I personally see no real advantage to an optimization program. Don