Disk Utilities
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I offer a number of disk utilities that I have developed over the years, and use on a daily basis.  They are mainly concerned with routine file and hard disk maintenance.

  • Equalise - synchronise folder trees - make files on a floppy or network drive match you hard disk
  • FindDuplicates - find and remove those multiple copies of DLLs and other files
  • ShowMan - disk usage piechart - graphical view onto your disks, drill down and see where the disk space has gone
  • TrimTree - utility to remove files from a complete directory tree if those files are older than a specified age (unsupported)
  • WinTidy - locate and remove those temporary files you never knew you had

and because it didn't fit elsewhere:

Software Support and Registration

The Disk Utilities described on this page are currently freeware, but if you require support on the software you must register with me.  Registration is also an easy way you can say "Thank You" if you like the software.

Click here to register the Disk Utilities now!

A reminder that you can be on a mailing list free of charge to be automatically notified of any updates.


Equalise

Program written to synchronise folder structures on two different computers over a network, or between a computer and a floppy disk.  It can be used to keep up-to-date safety copies of files on floppy disks, or to allow program development on two different computers - perhaps one at work and one at home.

V5.0.0   Version for Delphi 5.01, add About box.
V5.0.2 Support XP themes, add question icon for create new folder dialog.
V5.0.4 Position nearer screen centre (option), add -single as parameter (for first pass only), avoid asking about files which no longer exist.
V5.0.6 Correct case where requested "skip" folder was missed.
V6.0.0 Move options to separate tab, add exclude directory list option, add Fast option (fewer directory lookups).

FindDuplicates

Find Duplicates was written to allow you to control your disk space usage by discovering files that are duplicated and, should you so wish, deleting one or more of these duplicates. There are many ways in which duplicate files can be deposited on your hard disk, for example programs which don't check to see if you have a particular DLL installed and install their own private copy in any case, or other programs that install a DLL in your \Windows directory when it is already in \Windows\System32.

V5.1.2 Add Skip windows directories option (includes the SYSBCKUP folder option).
V5.1.4 Add right-click popup menu (adds new Open Container item, duplicates existing Properties menu), add more thorough checksum option ("Better check")

 

ShowMan

Screen shot of ShowMan at work Program to help recover disk space.  Gives pie-chart view of disk usage, including unused space, with the ability to drill down into folders.  Shows actual or nominal space occupied. Knows about the effects of cluster sizes.  If you want a piechart of your FTP space on an ISP, look at my FTPpie utility.

 

V5.2.0   Revise list box layout to separate filename and size, use Desktop Font for Status Box, List Box and Pie Chart, add Refresh tool button, add "Refresh from here" menu item, check under Large Fonts display, don't rescan under timer control if mouse button is pressed.
V5.2.2 In Options | Display - add right-click for changing pie-chart segment colour.
V5.2.4 Make application title reflect scanning/finished status, enable Form, Maximise button, allow Backspace to go up one level, add option to show occupied disk for sparse files.
V5.2.6 Improve display when using Large Fonts, display the status bar with optimum panel widths.
V5.2.8 Add ability to right-click folder and open it in Explorer (note that one file in the folder will be selected), make root for File Open desktop - not drives, correct error when clicking on an empty selection, honour Windows text colour in the list-box.
V6.0.0 Make right-click properties honour the desktop font, add Explore, Delete and Open options for piechart and list right-click, rebuild tree after Delete.

 

Tiny Ben

Screen-shot of TinyBen at work Really simple analog clock.
No alarms.  No Internet time.  No Atomic time.  No calendar.

 

V1.0.0   First release
V1.0.2 Add Stay-on-top menu option (may require program restart), allow the mouse to drag the clock using the left button.
V1.0.4 Add UTC option

  icon-download.gif (908 bytes) Download Tiny Ben 1.0.4 (188,892 bytes, 2008 Mar 05)

 

TrimTree

Unsupported utility to remove files from a complete directory tree if those files are older than a specified age.  Intended for command-line in overnight batch jobs.  

Usage example 1 - processed Meteosat data:

@ECHO Delete the less interesting channels after 2 days
TrimTree  2  C:\MSG\images\  *-msg-ch06.*  *-msg-ch07.*
@ECHO Delete the more interesting channels after 7 days
TrimTree  7  C:\MSG\images\  *-msg-ch02.*  *-msg-ch09.*
In this example, files which are older than 2 days, living in the folder C:\MSG\images\ and below, which match either the file names for MSG HRIT channel 6 or MSG HRIT channel 7 would be deleted, and the files older than 7 days for MSG channels 2 and 9.  This allows you to optimise disk storage by keeping the more interesting data for a longer period.  
The first parameter after the command TrimTree specifies the number of days which should elapse before a file is considered "old" and therefore a candidate to be deleted.  This date is based on the file's modification date, which is the one usually displayed by Windows Explorer.  The second parameter is the root of the directory tree from which you want to start the scan.  The third and subsequent parameters specify the files which should be deleted.  Note that I have used "wildcard" file specifiers, so that any file with "-msg-ch06." in the file name will match for the first example.
The lines above would be entered into a command-file such as Nightly.cmd, and you would use the Control Panel, Scheduled tasks function to make Nightly.cmd run at, for example 03:05 in the morning.  If your computer is not on 24 hours a day, you could make the task run when you start up the computer by putting a shortcut to the Nightly.cmd file in your Program File, Startup folder.

Usage example 2 - unprocessed EUMETCast data

Another use might be to remove EUMETCast data which you don't process, although this is actually better done by editing entries in the recv-channels.ini file.  Suppose that you decide that any unprocessed EUMETCast data more than 2 days old is of no interest, and that you have a default EUMETCast installation where data is saved to the directory:  C:\Program Files\T-Systems\BusinessTV-IP\received.  Note that there is a space in "Program Files"!  Into your Nightly.cmd file, you could add the lines:

@ECHO Delete the unprocessed data which is 2 days old
TrimTree  2  "C:\Program Files\T-Systems\BusinessTV-IP\received\"  *.*

This would remove any files older than 2 days which are in the \received\ directory, and in any directory below \received\.  If you have other receiving directories in the TelliCast tree, you can process them as well:

@ECHO Delete the unprocessed data which is 2 days old
TrimTree  2  "C:\Program Files\T-Systems\BusinessTV-IP\received_EPS10\"  *.*

Because the directory names contains spaces, be sure to enclose them in quotation marks (shift-2 on an English keyboard).  

Important!  If you use TrimTree like this, be sure to copy any files in the \received\updates\ directory elsewhere for safe keeping, or mark them read-only.

Usage example 3 - log files from ShipPlotter and Plane Plotter

Here is a different example - to keep the log files from Ship Plotter, Plane Plotter and SBS-1 BaseStation software under control.  ShipPlotter log files are kept for two weeks, and the aircraft-related files for seven days.

@ECHO Delete PlanePlotter and ShipPlotter log files
TrimTree  7  "C:\Program Files\COAA\PlanePlotter\log files\"  pp*.log
TrimTree  14  "C:\Program Files\COAA\ShipPlotter\log files\"  sp*.log
@ECHO Delete SBS-1 BaseStation log files
TrimTree  7  "C:\Program Files\Kinetic\BaseStation\"  20*.bst

Information about using the Windows Task Scheduler

Note: if you use TrimTree in a command-file, be sure not to call that file TrimTree.bat or TrimTree.cmd!  If you do, the TrimTree command will loop.  If you must call it TrimTree.bat, you will need to specify TrimTree.exe in the actual command file:

TrimTree.exe  2  C:\MSG\images\  *-msg-ch06.*  *-msg-ch07.*
V1.0.0   First release
V1.0.2 Limit number of deleted files reported to 1000
V1.0.4 Attempt to prevent "Automate" from killing the program
V1.0.6 Position at screen, rather than desktop, centre
V1.0.8 Accept -MIN parameter as last parameter for minimised operation
V1.1.0 Accept -EMPTY parameter as last or last but one parameter, will attempt to remove those directories traversed which are empty.
V1.2.0 Remove need for runtime libraries.

 

WinTidy

Program to help recover disk space. Finds backup, object & temporary files that might be candidates for deletion and allows the user to delete one or more of these files. Can be automated.

V5.0.2 - remove requirement for runtime library.

  

 
Copyright © David Taylor, Edinburgh Last modified: 2007 Dec 23 at 15:16