Copyright: Copyright © 1996  Alex Freiman


Contents

Introduction

Quick Start

Screen layout

Navigating

Pie Chart

Wasted Disk space

Analyzing Data

Registration

License Agreement

Order Form


Introduction

Analyze your hard disk and free up valuable disk space!!

Is your hard disk full? Mine was. That's why I wrote SpyDir, to show me where all my disk space was being used up, and how much wasted space was being taken up by bad disk partitioning. SpyDir shows both numerically and graphically,  all of your subdirectories, the space each one occupies, and the percentage it uses of your entire disk . Using this information you can delete unused directories and files and free up much needed disk space. Analysis information about your disk cluster size will show you how much wasted space is on your disk, and helps you determine whether your disk should be repartitioned. Hundreds of megabytes of wasted disk space can be restored.

File manager and Explorer only show information that is contained in the directory you are in. They show you the number of subdirectories, and the files contained in the current directory. They do NOT show you any total statistics on EVERYTHING in the directory's paths. SpyDir does.

The registered version of SpyDir even lets you save this information to a disk file. You can print the file with your word processor or enter the file directly into a database for further analysis.

Try SpyDir for 30 days. If you find it useful, then register it. When you register, you will receive a password that enables disk saving, and removes the pre-registration screen that is displayed when running SpyDir.


Quick Start

When you  run SpyDir a dialog is displayed showing your disk's directory path tree structure on the left, and an empty table on the right.

1. Select the drive you want to scan by selecting the drive letter from the drive list box in the upper left corner.

2. Press the Scan button to scan the drive. The table on the right will be filled as each directory is read and the totals calculated (you can stop the scan at any time by pressing the Exit button). The table is initially sorted by size. Notice the meter on the bottom of the screen showing you the scan progress. Press the Scan on startup checkbox to have the disk automatically scanned next time you run SpyDir.

3. When the scan is done  you will hear a beep and the status line will contain display "Scan complete".

4. Resize the SpyDir dialog to your specific preferences by grabbing a corner or side of the border and dragging it to adjust the size. SpyDir will remember your new size the next time you run it.

5. The table shows you the total information for each subdirectory in the root. The information under the column "Size" is very useful. Size is how much disk space that directory and ALL of it's subdirectories take up on your disk. The percent column shows you the percentage of your disk the directory uses.

6. Double click on a line that shows 1 or more subdirectories and you will go down one more level into your disk structure.

7. Double click on a line that has the name "[..]" you will return to the previous directory level.

8. You can sort the table on any column, ascending or descending. Single clicking on a column title sorts by that column in ascending order. Double clicking a column's title will sort the table by that column in descending order.

9. If you have the registered version of SpyDir select "Save table to disk" from the File menu item. Name the file, and the table will be written to a text file on disk.

10. The tree structure diagram shows you a graphical layout of your drive. Double clicking on a directory that has subdirectories will expand the directory and show you the subdirectories on the next level.

11. To scan a different drive go back to step 1, choose a different drive letter, and perform steps 2-10.

12. Press the Graph button to display a Pie Chart of your current directory structure. Click on a slice of the chart to get more information about the subdirectory.

13. When you are done using SpyDir press the Exit button to return to Windows.


Registration

When you first run SpyDir, a Pre-registration screen is displayed prior to displaying the main dialog. When you register SpyDir you will receive a password which will prevent the pre-registration screen from being displayed, and enables you to save your displayed data to a disk file. It will also remove the <NON REGISTERED> title from the screen, and display your name instead.

Registering SpyDir will also entitle you to get the next major upgrade for free. You will also receive notification of all minor updates and where they can be found.


License Agreement

Thank you for trying SpyDir Continued use of this program automatically constitutes acceptance of this disclaimer of warranty:  SpyDir is supplied as is.  The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of SpyDir.

SpyDir is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system.  The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products.  If you find this program useful and find that you are continuing to use SpyDir after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $10 to Alex Freiman. The $10 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book.  An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time.

You are encouraged to pass a copy of SpyDir along to your friends for evaluation.  Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it.  All registered users will receive free technical support for the product.

Send questions, comments, and suggestions to the following address:

Alex Freiman

162 Cedar Dr

New Britain, Pa

18901

alexc@cris.com


Order Form
Order Form for SpyDir V2.01

SpyDir V2.01

To register on Compuserve, GO SWREG and enter #13308 or

send a check or money order with this form to:

Alex Freiman

162 Cedar Dr

New Britain, Pa 18901

alexc@cris.com

To print this registration form, click on Print Topic in the File menu. Payments must be in US dollars drawn on a US bank.

quantity:	____ @ $_______ (1 copy $10.00 see registration  for more)

subtotal:	_____

shipping	$4.00	to avoid shipping, send to my email adrs below (check here) ___

Pennsylvania residents

add 6.0% sales tax:	_____

Total Payment	_____

Name:	________________________________________

Company:	________________________________________

Address:	________________________________________

City, State, Zip	________________________________________

Country:	________________________________________

Day Phone:	________________________________________

Work Phone:	________________________________________

Electronic Mail Address:___________________________________

Your Name will be used to determine your password. Your password will be returned to you via EMail (if address supplied) or US Mail if no Email address was supplied

Where did you find SpyDir? ________________________________

Comments, Questions, and Suggestions:


Pie Chart

If you press the Graph button after the drive has been scanned, a Pie chart is displayed. The chart shows the 14 directories (percantage must be greater than zero)  that occupy the most disk space. Clicking on a pie slice will show you more detailed information about the directory.

The Pie Chart window can be resized by dragging any of it's sides to the required size. It can also be

repositioned anywhere on the screen


Screen layout

When SpyDir is initially run, a graphical display of the subdirectories on your current drive is displayed on the left, on the right is an empty Directory Information Table. Either select a different drive from the drive list box in the upper left of the screen, or press the Scan button.

After the scan is complete, a beep will sound and the Directory information table contains a list of all the subdirectories in your drive's root, and the totals of all the subdirectories and files underneath each of the root subdirectories.  After the scan your disk analysis can begin

Pressing the Graph button will display a pie chart of

your current directory's layout/ Clicking on a pie slice

will show you more information about the selected

directory.

The Directory Information Table contains the following 6 columns for each subdirectory:

Name -	the name of  the subdirectory in the current drive path (initially in the root path).

Size - 	the total size  of all the files in the subdirectory and all of it's children.

Percent - the percentage of the drive that this subdirectory and it's children occupy.

Files -	the total number of files in this subdirectory and all of it's children.

Subdir - the total number of subdirectories underneath this one.

Date -	the date the subdirectory was created.

When scanning the root directory, the table will

always display an entry named free space. This is

the amount of free space available on your drive.

The checkbox Scan on startup will cause your hard disk to automatically be scanned each time SpyDir is run

The SpyDir screen can be resized to your specific preferences by grabbing a corner or side of the border and dragging it to adjust the size. SpyDir will now remember your new size the next time you run it.


Navigating

Navigating the Graphical Subdirectory display:

This display shows you the tree structure of the current drive. When you double click on a name that has subdirectories, the display will show you the next lower level in the directory tree.

Navigating the Directory Information Table:

The Directory Information Table can be sorted by any column by clicking the column title. An ascending sort is done with a single click, a double click will sort in descending order. When double clicking an entry that has subdirectories, the table will be redrawn with the information about the directory you double clicked on. When double clicking on the [..] entry you will go back up one level in the directory structure

Navigating the Pie Chart

When you click on a slice of the pie chart, additional information is displayed about the selected subdirectory.

Scanning a drive:

To scan a drive, select the drive letter from the drive list box in the upper left of the screen. Then either select Scan from the File menu item or press the Scan button. The meter at the bottom of the screen will show you the progress of the scan. The scan can be stopped at any time by pressing the Exit button.

Save table to disk:

After scanning a disk and creating the Directory Information Table, the table can be saved to a text file on disk by selecting the Save table to disk option from the File menu item. This option is only available in the registered version of SpyDir.


Analysis of Data

By sorting the Table you can determine where most of your disk space is being used. Double clicking on the Size column heading will sort the table by directory size in descending order. The first directory in the table will be the directory that is the largest in size. If this directory has subdirectories, you can double click on it, and traverse lower and lower into the structure to see where the larger subdirectories are.

Sorting the Table ascending by size, you can see all of the directories that are empty and can be deleted from your disk.

It might also be interesting to sort by date to see when directories were created and how old they are. This can be used to see how old your hard disk is.


Wasted Disk space

When you press the Waste button, information is displayed to help you decide how best to partition the disk to eliminate wasted space.  It reports how much disk space is wasted due to your disk's cluster size, and how much would be wasted for other cluster sizes.

The three columns are:

1.Cluster size - the six different disk cluster sizes

2.Wasted disk space - the amount of wasted disk space for your disk volume, depending on your cluster size.

3.Percentage of disk wasted - the percentage of wasted space, depending on the cluster size

note: Your current volume's statistics are highlighted in yellow.

This table gives the cluster sizes determined by DOS when you format your hard disk

     Cluster Size  	Volume Size

 2K 	16 MB	to	128 MB

 4K 	128 MB	to	256 MB

 8K 	256 MB to	512 MB

16K 	512 MB to	1024 MB

32K 	1024 MB to	2048 MB

64K 	2048 MB to 	4096 MB

For example; a 256MB drive will have a minimum cluster size of 8K bytes. If you write a one byte file to this drive, the minimum space it will take up is 8,000 bytes, a waste of 7,999 bytes of disk space. If you partitioned the volume for 2K clusters, the one byte file would only waste 1,999 bytes of data.

The disadvantage of a small cluster size is that larger files will take longer to load. Each cluster requires another Disk access, and disk I/O is one of the slowest operations on your computer.

There are 2 ways to To repartition your drive to use smaller cluster sizes

1. Use DOS's FDISK utility to repartition your disk(s). The disadvantage of FDISK is that any data that resides on your disk will be lost. Therefore make sure you backup your files before repartitioning with FDISK. Refer to your DOS manuals for instructions on how to use FDISK.

2. A software program called Partition Magic (c) will  repartition your hard disk without losing any of your data. This program is available in various software stores.

Note: if you compress your disk using DoubleSpace, Stacker. etc...., then the statistics for wasted space are meaningless. Compression will fill each cluster with the maximum amount of data possible. The amounts of wasted space is minimal.