Turbo ToolKit™ v1.0.2 Release Notes Copyright © 1996, 1997 by FWB Software, LLC 05/02/97 Introducing Turbo ToolKit version 1.0.2 ========================================================================= FWB Software is pleased to release version 1.0.2 of TTK. This release contains a number of bug fixes and changes described below. TurboRead One of the two types of caching has been removed from TurboRead. This has resulted in a large simplification of the user interface. Gone are the memory usage setting and the radio buttons for controlling which caches are enabled. All that remains is the display of seconds saved since last restart and the On/Off radio button. TurboRead now caches blocks on the fly rather than remembering block usage over time. TurboDisk There is now a checkbox to make all invisible files except those called "Icon" unmovable. This is to prevent TurboDisk from moving files that are position-dependent (primarily certain types of copy protection schemes). Additional notes regarding Turbo ToolKit version 1.0.1 ========================================================================= Several users have raised concerns about the perceived performance enhancement provided by Turbo ToolKit. The goal of this software is to make your storage devices more efficient by organizing file locations and anticipating data requests. Turbo ToolKit is designed to restore performance to older drives and reduce the more intangible measurement of "average time to data." Some users find the improvement less noticeable on newer systems. This can be traced to lower fragmentation levels, faster drives, and larger on-board caches on the drive's controller. The advantage of using Turbo ToolKit in this configuration is that it preserves peak performance and reduces wear-and-tear with our idle-time optimization routines. This will prove to be a safe and simple way to maintain the best performance in the future. Please continue to provide your valuable feedback as we continue to add improvements to the software. Turbo ToolKit Manager The user guide states that you may optimize your normal startup drive by booting up from a System CD and running TurboDisk from a diskette. Version 1.0 had a limitation that prevented it from running the TTK application while booted up from a CD or other locked device. This has been corrected in version 1.0.1. If your computer can boot from a system CD, here's how to optimize your normal startup drive by booting from your system CD and running TurboDisk from a diskette: 1. Copy the TTK application file onto a high-density diskette. 2. (PowerPC only) Copy the ObjectSupportLib file from your Extensions folder (located in your normal boot drive's System Folder) onto the same diskette. 3. Load your bootable system CD. 4. In the Startup Disk control panel, choose your CD-ROM drive as the startup disk, and restart your system. 5. Insert the floppy you created. 6. Double-click the floppy, and double-click the TTK application icon. 7. Click the TurboDisk button. 8. Click Optimize. 9. Select the volume you wish to optimize from the Select a Volume pop-up menu. 10. Click the Optimize button at the bottom of the Optimization window. The user guide also states that you may create your own bootable diskette for optimizing your normal startup drive. This is no longer possible because the necessary Mac OS files and TTK files won't fit on a single diskette. TurboBoot Some users noticed that TurboBoot always appeared to be in update mode on their systems. Version 1.0.1 corrects this for most applications. There are still some known incompatibilities with Now Utilities, particularly with Now Menus. If TurboBoot is always in update mode, you may want to turn Now Menus off when using TurboBoot. TurboRead Some users reported problems with TurboRead and Epson printers. An updated Epson Printer driver 2.5.2a May 1996 fixes this. Get the driver from http://www.epson.com/connects/ftp1.html. TurboDisk Before you install other software, make sure you restart you computer with extensions off (by holding down the Shift key when you restart). Many installer programs cannot complete software installation when they are interrupted by extension activity, including TurboDisk's background activity. Additional features and notes not mentioned in the User Guide: version 1.0 ========================================================================= System Requirements The system requirements for Turbo ToolKit are: Hardware: • either a Power Macintosh or a Macintosh with a 68020 or better processor • 8 MB free RAM minimum, 16 or more recommended • a hard disk drive with at least 800 KB available Software: • Macintosh System 7.0.1 or later TurboDisk • Before you optimize, turn off your virus protection software. • You may have to change the settings of your virus protection and/or security software to prevent it from interfering with background defragmentation. For example, the highest level settings in Symantec AntiVirus For Macintosh (SAM) will display a dialog box for each file being defragmented. Lower SAM settings work fine. • To avoid having your system shut down or go to sleep before TurboDisk can do its background defragmentation, make sure the time-out for TurboDisk is set slightly shorter than that set for the Energy Saver control panel. • The TurboDisk idle time setting for background file defragmentation defaults to 5 minutes for values between 1 and 4 minutes. In other words, if you type in 1, 2, 3, or 4 minutes, TurboDisk will still wait a minimum of 5 minutes of idle time before it begins background defragmentation. • Before you optimize, run a disk repair tool, such as Apple's Disk First Aid or Norton Utilities, to ensure your disk is not damaged. • Some extremely fragmented volumes may need two optimizations before they are fully optimized. • You can use TurboDisk even when its extension is not loaded. However, you need the extension for background defragmentation. • Under most circumstances, background defragmenting will not check for fragmented files more than once per day. However, if you restart your machine, it will look once again until either the next day or the next restart. • TurboDisk displays a dialog box informing you if background defragmenting is unable to completely defragment all files on your disk. Your disk may be too full. Either turn off background defragmenting and fully optimize the disk, or make room on the disk. • If you interrupt a background defragmentation, for example with a mouse movement, a shutdown, or a restart, TTK may take a couple of seconds before stopping to move files from a temporary location on another volume back to the original volume. • The background defragmentation feature does not defragment free space. Only with a full optimization are all files and free space arranged contiguously. If you want free space to be contiguous, quit all applications and run a full optimization. • In order to provide maximum safety, TurboDisk does not attempt to defragment the catalog file. You may see the catalog file "mixed in with" other system and application files after the optimization is complete. We have determined that since the maximum number of pieces for the catalog file is three (a rule enforced by the Mac OS), a fragmented catalog file will not have a large impact on overall system performance. • Our extensive testing revealed some difficulties with extremely large and extremely small volumes. For this reason, TurboDisk will not allow you to optimize volumes smaller than 10 MB or volumes larger than 4 GB. • If you have two or more volumes with exactly the same name (not recommended), and you select one of them for background defragmentation, you have effectively selected both of them, as TurboDisk can't tell them apart. Miscellaneous compatibility issues ========================================================================= TurboDisk • If a user interrupts either a background defragmentation or a complete optimization before it is finished, one or more files may be left on a different volume. This can happen on a disk only under the following circumstances: • The disk has some large files. • The disk has very fragmented free space. • You have enabled Allow use of other volumes in TurboDisk. If files are moved and not brought back because of this situation, you will find them on the first volume that had room for them. They will be in a folder called "Files moved by TurboDisk." Inside this folder there will be a directory structure showing where the file came from on the original drive. TurboRead • There is a conflict between Web Quick, one of the components of Now Utilities 6.5.1, and TurboRead. To solve the conflict, use Now Startup Manager to rearrange loading so Web Quick loads before TurboRead. ========================================================================= FWB Software, LLC 2750 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061-3911 Phone • Voice: 415-463-3500 • Fax: 415-463-3558 Internet • URL: http://www.fwb.com • General Information: info@fwb.com • Technical Support Inquiries: support@fwb.com • Sales Inquiries: sales@fwb.com • Upgrade Inquiries: upgrade@fwb.com