WASTE.EXE                                Joseph Glosz  CIS 

Waste does just one thing: it tells you just how much total "wasted" or slack
space there is on a specified drive.

Slack space is the difference between the filesize that DOS's DIR command tells
you and the actual physical space taken by the file.

"Huh?" you may ask? Or, "why do I care?" might be another one of you questions.

First, let's point out that DOS cannot allocate anything smaller than a "cluster"
to any file. Sometimes this cluster is called is called an "allocation unit."

So how big is a cluster? Well, that depends entirely on how the size of your hard
disk and how you've partitioned it. If your disk (or partition) is about 100 MB or
smaller, your cluster sizes will be 2048 bytes (2K). At a size of from about 
100 MB to 200 MB, the cluster size becomes twice that size, or 4K. A typical hard
disk of 340 MB (partitioned all into a single drive letter) will have cluster
sizes of a whopping 8192 bytes (8K).

This leads us into the "why do I care" part. You care because every single file
on your disk will take a whole number of clusters.  That little one line batch
file you wrote that DOS reports as having a size of 62 bytes?  Well, it REALLY
takes up 8192 bytes (8K) of your 340 MB drive.  This is over 8100 bytes of 
completed wasted space.  Space that can't be used by anything thing else on your 
drive.

So with a cluster size of 8K, every file on your disk will waste from zero to
8191 bytes of space.  But with a cluster size of 4K, each file will waste no more
than HALF of that. And with a cluster size of 2K, each file will waste no more
than 2041 bytes!

So, with this simple utility, you can intelligently decide how best to partition
your large hard drive.  If you have LOTS of files, and especially if they are
little, you will waste an enormous amount of space. And WASTE will tell you 
exactly how much. You no longer have to guess.

To Run WASTE just type WASTE at the DOS prompt.  It will analyze the default drive.
Or type WASTE D:  for example, to have it analyze drive D.  WASTE will also 
analyze floppy disks.

Examples:

      WASTE           analyzes default drive
      WASTE C:        analyzes drive C
      WASTE A:        analyzes drive A
      WASTE /h        help & credit screen


This utility is free. Enjoy it, and let's reduce our waste out there!

J GLOSZ