DiscTree is the latest software product from Mitre Software, producers of the database package Flying Start (reviewed in Volume 1 Issue 5), and DeskTop Enhancer (DTE) which runs under Arthur 1.2.
DiscTree is specifically written to run under RISC OS. For your money you get an unprotected disc and a 30 page manual. The software provides three distinct functions, a so-called Tree Viewer for exploring directory structures, a comprehensive back-up facility, and a related restore operation. The software generates the now standard windows and menu displays which we are used to with the Archimedes, and particularly RISC OS.
Installing DiscTree as an application on the menu bar is straightforward. Pressing the Menu button while pointing to DiscTree's icon brings up a menu from which a floppy or hard disc drive may be selected. A window then opens showing the complete hierarchical directory structure for that disc. This is quite informative, and DiscTree then allows you to open directly any folder in that structure.
DiscTree also provides a comprehensive 'find file' option, searching selected directories for specified file types, using wild-carded file names if you wish. This all works quite effectively, but there is one major pain to be endured. Almost every DiscTree function you choose demands that the original disc be re-inserted on two separate occasions, despite the fact that DiscTree has been installed on the menu bar. It can be effectively avoided on hard disc systems, for which DiscTree is primarily intended, by installing the software on the hard disc itself. Any subsequent access to DiscTree goes largely unnoticed.
On the plus side, DiscTree is fully multi-tasking, allowing several discs to be examined together, and file search (or other) functions to take place concurrently with any other multi-tasking application.
The back-up facility uses the same directory, file name and file type specifications as the find operation. This allows all or part of a disc to be backed up. Furthermore, files for back-up can be selected by date, so you could back up all files last changed after a particular date, for example.
I tried backing up one of my frequently used floppies. This worked just as described in the manual, but involved an inordinate degree of disc swapping, and has no real advantage over the file copy facilities available in RISC OS. However, when backing up a hard disc, DiscTree comes into its own, and will automatically create a whole set of back-up floppies as required. In addition, the complete back-up specification can be stored as a so-called script file for future reference to further automate the process.
Restoring backed-up files is also quite comprehensively handled. Files may be selected in a variety of ways (singly, by directory etc.), and unlike some systems I have seen, is flexible and does work exceedingly well. The one real chore, apart from swapping the floppies in and out, is again the recurrent necessity to re-insert the original DiscTree disc, unless installed on a hard disc.
If you have a wealth of valuable information stored on a hard disc system, then DiscTree is likely to prove very useful, both for regular back-ups and for its 'find file' facility, but even so the product seems rather expensive for what it has to offer. There is little value for the floppy only user, where the frequent need to re-insert the original disc is nothing but a pain.
Product DiscTree Supplier Mitre Software Ltd, International House, 26 Creechurch lane, London EC3A 5BA. Tel. 01-283 4646 Price £49.95 inc. VAT and p&p.