Title: PackDisc
Short: Save disc space be avoiding wasted space (v0.05)
ShortName: packdisc.arc
Author: Steve Lee
Date: 14-jun-96
Status: Freeware
Archiver: SparkFS
Size:

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Description:

This program will increase the free space on any FileCore based filing
system. This free space which is created comes from the wasted space in
shared fragments. !PackDisc rearranges which files share fragments with each
other in such a way as to minimise the remaining wasted space.

PackDisc is ideal on directories which have constant contents and several
small files, for example application directories, as the small files can be
rearranged more effectively and the space saved should remain saved.
It may also be useful for PD libraries or magazine discs or anyone else who
wants to use every last sector on a floppy - it can usually save at least a
couple of KB from a typical floppy. I saved 11K on a copy of the RISC OS 3
App1 disc. On my whole hard drive I saved about 10MB.

The whole of the re-arrangement is done using high-level filing system calls
to minimise the risk of corrupting discs. However, the FileCore bug which
can corrupt nearly-full discs *could* rear its ugly head. I have not had any
problems with the current version. An early development version *did* cause
a corruption of a couple of very large files but these are handled
differently now so the corruption should not occur.