[WinMac] Disk Hygeine [WAS:Re: WinMac Digest #221 - 02/08/99 -- Floppyless iMac]

Dan Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Tue, 09 Feb 1999 11:05:18 -0500

        Dear Pat,

        A couple of points...

        1) The Norton Shared Library started with version 3.5, not 4.0;

        2) Also, the Norton Shared Library can be either in the Norton folder *OR*
in the Extensions Folder of the active system;

        3) Starting with MacOS 8.5, the General Controls CDEV's behavior changed
in a subtle yet important way: When "Warn me if System is shut down
improperly" is checked, it now runs Disk First Aid in addition to just a
silly warning screen:

        3A) This helps stop the vicious cycle of file system corruption causing
Finder crashing, which causes more corruption;

        3B) Just as importantly, for those running AppleShare Server 4.0.2 & up,
this dialog box self-clears after DFA runs. [Background: There was a bug in
the General Controls CDEV in System 7.5.1 for Workgroup Servers: The
default for the improper shutdown warning was ON; and in the event of a
crash if automatic rebooting is selected, the system would hang at the
warning screen unless cleared manually. I filed a bug report and also
notified Greg Jewett's former group), and the result was a revised General
Controls CDEV that specifically addressed this problem.]

        Cheers!
        Dan

At 01:51 AM 2/9/99 -0600, Pat Kelly McCarthy replied to me:

>I believe if you have make some self-mounting floppy images of your
>utility disks to mount on your iMac desktop, you should be able to do
>almost anything you could do if you actually had a floppy (and possible
>more) . . . although iThink they should have had a floppy or a SuperDisk
>built in for convenience . . . but then that may be the price of moving
>forward. Anyway, the SuperDisk is a bootable drive from the 120 meg
>disk or the 1.4, isn't it? If so, then not a problem.
>
>Boot any way you choose . . . either from a CD or from some form of
>external drive or from the network itself (isn't that possible with the
>iMac?). Can you even re-boot from a Ram-disk . . . though I am not sure
>about that one).
>
>The only stipulation for running Norton Utilities 4.0 for Mac is that
>you have the Norton Shared Lib and the ObjectSupportLib in the same
>folder as the Norton application you are running. It is not a
>requirement to have Norton on the boot-up disk. However, it is "better"
>to have it on any other drive than the one you are fixing. You can even
>start up with extensions off and run Norton (however, the Apple CD-Rom
>or Apple CD/DVD Driver extension must remain on if booting from a floppy
> -- must be in the system folder of the floppy that you boot from).
>
>Apple's Disk First Aid is better than ever. It can now repair even the
>boot-disk and the disk/drive from which it is running . . . that's new .
>. . and has been a big relief in making things easier.
>
>Even with all the improvements, sometimes all of this is a juggling act,
>but all is possible to be done by an ordinary mortal with a little
>patience and persistence.
>
>After saying all the above, is it "easy" to run disk repair utilities on
>the Mac?
>
>Easier than trying to do any of it on a Wintel. Most of the above could
>not be attempted by a mere mortal on the Wintel side of things . . . I
>think . . . but it is probably getting better all the time over there
>too . . . or is it.
>
>Side thought:
>
>If the Mac is one thing, it is "versatile". And this is due to the Mac
>shareware authors being the perfect compliment to the Mac OS over the
>years. If they go away, Apple will have lost its glory. I am glad to
>see Apple offering more and more programming tools for free these days
>(such as the Inside Mac series online and for free download). I hope
>these offerings of free and almost free programming tools continues --
>with a steady improvement of the tutorial tools too. Without great
>programmers what have you got? Zilch.
>
>My vote for top two Mac utilities over the years is *"ShrinkWrap"* and
>"Stuffit-Lite". Of the many great and indispensable apps, these made it
>possible to do the otherwise impossible on the Mac . . . and still do .
>. . like when I installed system 7.5.5 on my Mac Plus using the 1.4 meg
>install image files stuffed and unstuffed using Stuffit-Lite and created
>and mounted using ShrinkWrap, all transferred with 800k floppies . . .
>elementary my dear Watson. But of course, all of the Mac shareware apps
>are indispensable.
>
>Once again, God Bless us all.
>
>Pat Kelly McCarthy
>
>
>
>> ----------
>> >From: "The Windows-MacOS cooperation list" <winmac@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu>
>> >To: "The Windows-MacOS cooperation list" <winmac@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu>
>> >Subject: WinMac Digest #219 - 02/06/99
>> >Date: Sat, Feb 6, 1999, 5:00 PM
>> >
>>
>> > What the iMac lacks is a way to boot the machine and run disk
>> > repair/recovery utilities *easily*... And I underscore the word EASILY.
>> > Yes, you can boot from a CD, but then what happens when you can't run a
>> > repair program because there is no second drive...

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