#Stacker
11 messages in this thread
I recently purchased and installed "Stacker" ("doubles your hard
disk") on the machine I do my 3DS work on. On this system I try to
keep all unused software "ZIPped" to maximize free disk space.
Needless to say, Stacker didn't do much for me (compression ratio
1.2:1). The types of files that Stacker can't compress any further
are: ZIP, GIF, compressed TGA. I'm not complaining, because this was
pretty much expected. Anyhow, all you that want to double your disk
space, buy another disk! LAM
You can .ZIP compressed .TGA files though for a greater savings.
This is indeed a limitation, although some GIF's aren't compressed, so
you may see some improvement there…
I run stacker (v2.0) on a variety of machines… The difference
between stacker and ZIP is that stacker is designed for real-time
compression, while ZIP, LZH, ARC, etc. are not… Although if you
follow the progression of all of the above, the compression ratios
have been increasing steadily… You may find that by using stacker,
you don't have to ZIP your files at all, which is its intent.
What I do, is use ZIP as an archive mechanism on an unstacked
diskette, or on the portion of my disk that's "unstacked" (I leave a
fairly large portion for Windows Permanent Swap file, ZIPs, etc…).
I still feel that stacker is well worth the investment since my 200MB
hard drive has over 400MB of data on it right now, and I still have
over 100MB reported left…
Larry, I just recently got Stacker 2.0 also and I am not really
suprised by what you said. Pkunzip and Stacker both work on the same
general principal, data compression. using both I would not expect a
disk with a lot of zip files to show a much increase when "stacked".
The best example I can think of at the moment is putting several .zip
files into another .zip file with the result being 0 (as in zero)
commpression. I believe that that the principal is the same with
stacker and zip files. With non zip files you will see a higher rate
of compression. Stac Technology has not yet had training from the
IRS.<g>
I did the same thing you did, I stacked the drive I had Acad 11 & 3ds
stored. The result was that I went from a drive that had less then 5MB
free to one that had 28MB! free. I haven't stacked all my drives but
I like the extra space….$90 beats the 'ell out of $200-250 for a
new disk that would run out of space shortly anyway. I'd say buy
Stacker.
Greg Moore SPEA, Inc
Had any problems with Stacker? Lost or corrupted files, or anything?
David Taffet
David, Before I answer you question about stacker let me give you a bit of
background. One of the guys I work with knows some one at the company that
makes SuperStor and he got a a few eval copies. He installed it on his
entire HD and I installed it on just one small partition (4MB). Both of us
liked the increase in space however, after a few days I started to notice
strange things like batch file not completing properly and other strange
things but scratched may head and continued working. The other guy ended up
having to reformat his HD and was able to restore from backups, I had to
reformat also but did not lose any thing worth worrying about. Needless to
say, after that I wasn't to thrilled by data compression. Several months
went by and one of the techie type here had heard lots of good stuff from
his techie type friends about Stacker. To make a long story short…He
bought it, tried it, had no problems. I bought a copy on his recommendation
and installed it on the partition where I store all my Autodesk software (2
vers. of Autocad, 3DS, and assoc Adesk stuff) ONLY backing it up. I
installed it and it has worked flawlessly so far!! no data loss, no weird
stuff happening, and I'm considering installing it on other drives. it even
works with our Bernoulli cartridges!! (44MB to 88)
I would say that I am (although I hate the term) a "power user" and have
far from your basic computer.
I am currently using qemm 6.0, Super PC-kwik on a dell 486/25 with 8MB ram
with a 100 internal HD (ide), a SPEA 1280, Lantastic net card, Future
domain SCSI controller attached to a Ricoh RS-9200 E2 optical cartridge
drive 650MB (GREAT drive!!!), and now and then a CD-rom and/or a Bernoulli
drive.
after being real paranoid about STACKER (vers 2.0) I have to say its Great
stuff!! excellent programming!! But don't buy the hardware version, The
software by it self is fast enough.
sorry for being so long winded Greg Moore SPEA, Inc.
Greg,
One side benefit of Stacker is that it can increase the effective
throughput of a slow drive. I use Syquest cartridges for extended storage
space. They are fine but the accress time is around 25ms. Before Stacker
I rarely loaded files off the syquest directly. Once I Stacked the
cartridge the apparent speed is enough that I can use it directly!
Terry, the speed increase sounds interesting….the Ricoh drive I have is
great but not the fastest (+- 100ms) I wonder if I can stac a scsi drive ?
gee that could be interesting…279MB (+- 293,000 bytes) on a side could
become over 500Mb !?!?!? and be FASTER ?!?! just think of the FLC file I
could create with that much space…1280x1024x256 by 10 frame <g>
I'll also let the people with bernoulli boxes know about the speed
increase.
Thanks Terry, Greg Moore SPEA, Inc
I am using SCSI for both my Maxtor 200MB driver and for the 44MB Syquest
drive. It works great. I think that any drive that looks like a normal
drive to DOS should work. The Syquest requires a driver to implement
removable drives. Without the driver it looks like a 40MB hard disk. I
haven't tried Stacker with a Bernoulli, but it would certainly be worth a
try.
The speed increase has to come from a higher effective transfer rate. I
suppose (if the stacker drive isn't overly fragmented) you get a better
access time since the data is packed into fewer tracks.
I have an Adaptec SCSI card running my CD-ROM drive. I just bought a
Syquest for my Amiga, but I'd like to use it on all my machines. I think
the Mac requires special software to handle removeable drives. What extra
software do you use to run your Syquest on the PC? The one I bought was
formerly used on a Unix machine and came with no software for any type of
PC.
You can use the drive without software but DOS treats it as a nonremovable
drive. To enable cartridge swapping, you need a driver that you can get
from Syquest's BBS. You need to call Syquest at 415.226.4000 and tell them
you need to get the driver. They will give you the BBS# and a password.
This also contains the formatting software that you will need in anycase.
The file is SQPREP.ZIP. If you have trouble getting it from them
(shouldn't) let me know and I'll email it to you.
Yoou might call Adaptec to verify that the Syquest it supported by their
adaptor. I use the Always IN2000 adaptor and did have to get the most
recent ROM to use a Syquest.