 Diamond Edge Demo Version Extendible Help System
 File: FILE.HLP
 Topics covered:
 
    ù  User Preferences
    ù  Active Drive
    ù  Basic Displays
    ù  User Mode
    ù  Warn Mode
    ù  Medic Pause Delay
 
 ù  Preferences
 
        User selectable preferences are available through the 
 Preferences option under the File menu.  These preferences are 
 automatically set during the installation process and you may 
 modify them at any time.  The selectable options include the 
 default paths that you want Diamond Disk Information and Disk 
 Validation files to be saved.  
 
 ù  Note that ALL of the currently selected menu options 
    and switches are saved in the configuration file.  
 
        To save current configuration select Save Preferences, 
 to use but not save the current preferences select 
 Use Preferences, to exit without any modification to the current 
 preferences select Cancel.
 
 ù  User Mode
  
        The User Mode defines the level of experience with disk 
 functions that YOU say you have.  There are two levels: Novice 
 and Expert.  Although, all program functions are available to all 
 users, additional warnings and explanations of the effects of the 
 selected action will be given to users that select Novice user 
 mode.  If you select Expert user mode it is assumed that you know 
 what you are doing when you select an action.  
 Be certain that you do.
 
 ù  Warn Mode
  
        Warn mode effects the amount of warning that you will 
 receive before certain types of actions.  There are two types of 
 warning modes: Only before potential loss of data or Never. Note 
 that even if you select Expert mode and Never warn you will still 
 receive warnings before certain types of actions like 
 repartitioning your hard disk or zeroing Drive C.  
 
 ù      Until you are very comfortable with the operation of 
 Diamond Edge, it is strongly suggested that you select Novice 
 user mode and Always warn options.  
 
 ù  Disk Medic Pause with No Errors
 
        There are many situations where automatic continuation 
 after a Disk Medic pass, like when no errors are found, is 
 convenient.  If no errors are found,  the value that you enter 
 is the number of seconds that the program will pause to display 
 the Disk Medic Report before continuing on to the next task. 
 If you leave it blank, then the program will wait for user input 
 before continuing.  The program will always wait for user input 
 if any disk errors are found during a Disk Medic pass.
 
 ù  The Active Drive
 
        There is one operating principal that applies to nearly 
 every program function: the Active Drive. The basic window 
 function block contains a set of buttons showing the available 
 drive partitions in your disk systems and a set of basic program 
 functions.  The drive that is selected is called the Active Drive.  
 
        ALL PROGRAM FUNCTIONS ARE PERFORMED ON THE ACTIVE DRIVE. 
 The only exception to this rule are the SCSI level operations 
 and Disk to Disk copy operations.  To change the Active Drive 
 click on the drive button or press the letter of the drive that 
 you want to become the Active Drive.
 
 ù  The Disk Information Display
 
        When you select Disk Info from the basic window function 
 block, critical disk information is displayed for the Active 
 Drive. For a complete description of all of the items contained 
 in the Disk Information Display, please refer to Section 8.3 in 
 your manual: Inside the Disk Partition.
 
 ù  The Fragmentation Map Display
 
        Selecting Frag Map from the basic window function block 
 will create a visual display of the fragmentation level of the 
 active drive and provide additional active drive statistics.  
 Fragmentation occurs when parts of files become spread across 
 your disk in different locations.  This is a normal by product 
 of the everyday process of creating files, deleting files, and 
 then adding more files.  
 
        The disk fragmentation map is generated in the order 
 thatan actual directory search would take.  What you are 
 witnessing is not only the level of file fragmentation on your 
 disks, but also the level of directory fragmentation.  If you
 have a heavily fragmented disk, you might notice that the map 
 seems to fill in  at seemingly random locations.  This is 
 demonstrating how hard your disk has to work to perform a 
 simple directory search. 
 
        The Disk Fragmentation Map displays a number of useful 
 summary statistics and graphs that allow you to assess the 
 fragmentation level of your disk.  For the purposes of the 
 statistics, 1 fragment is defined as an interruption in 
 consecutive location of disk clusters in a file.  So a file 
 that is broken into two pieces on the disk has 1 fragment, a 
 file that is broken into three separate pieces on the disk has 
 2 fragments, etc.  A file that has all of it's clusters 
 consecutive on the disk has no fragments.
 
        The summary statistics shown include the total number 
 of folders on your disk, the total number of files on your disk, 
 and the total number of fragmented files on your disk.  
 Additional information is provided for the fragmented files 
 showing the average number of fragments contained in each 
 fragmented file and the average number of fragments contained 
 in 100K bytes of fragmented files.  
 
        The graph in the Disk Fragmentation Map display is a 
 relative frequency histogram showing the distribution of the 
 sizes of files on your disk and the average fragmentation level 
 for each size class.  Each bar represents a bin of files sizes 
 and the height of the bar represents the percentage of the total 
 number of files on your disk that are in that size category.  
 The shading on each bar represents the average number of 
 fragments for files contained within that size category.
 
        This information is useful in determining the level and 
 severity of disk fragmentation.  It provides you with an idea 
 of how much fragmentation you have, where the fragmentation is, 
 and what type of files does it effect.  This information can be 
 used to determine whether it is necessary to optimize the disk 
 partition to regain hard disk performance.
 
 
 ù  The All Drive Information  Display
 
        Selecting All Info gives you a visual description of 
 all of your hard drives capacities and the current usage.  The 
 disk statistics of total disk capacity, bytes used, bytes free, 
 and percentage bytes free are given for each drive individually.  
 A total for all of your drives is displayed at the bottom of the 
 All Drives Information display.
 
 ù      You can print out all of the information from any of the 
 three basic window views by selecting Print from the basic window 
 function block.  It is a good idea to have a printout of all your 
 critical disk information.


