SMARTDRIVE TESTER - README FILE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Smartdrive Tester" is a small and simple utility, developed in Visual Basic, that with a couple of mouse clicks can inform you at a glance of Smartdrive's performance. Visual Basic is used to create a front-end for a DOS process: you could check on Smartdrive's performance by getting to a DOS prompt and issuing the command SMARTDRV /S - as explained in your DOS manual and as described -- with much better words -- at page 40 of PC/Computing's Windows Superguide (PC/Computing November 1992). Of course, if you were to use the manual approach, you would still have to make some calculations to figure out how Smartdrive is really performing; and if you should increase the size of the cache; or if you could release some memory to Windows... "Smartdrive Tester" does all the calculations for you: with the help of a Program Information File (PIF) it gathers the necessary data and displays the number of cache hits and misses. It also gives you a Performance Index and a Pie Chart to visually make sure you're getting the most out of Smartdrive. INSTALLATION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Copy SDTEST.EXE and SDRIVE.PIF in your Windows Directory or in any directory on your path. That's all there is to it. If SDRIVE.PIF is not in your path, SDTEST.EXE will just inform you that it cannot find the file and perform Smartdrive's analysis. USING "Smartdrive Tester" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Run SDTEST.EXE from File Manager, from Program Manager or from whatever shell you might be using. You can iconize "Smartdrive 4.0 Tester" and keep it on your desktop, ready to check on Smartdrive. The first time SDTEST.EXE is run, the "DISPLAY GRAPH" command button is not available (hey, there are no data yet to display!). Click on the "TEST SMARTDRIVE" command button and, in few seconds (depending on the speed of your machine), SDTEST.EXE will report the number of Hits, Misses and a Performance Index. If the Performance Index is less than 9, the Index will be displayed in red, just to warn you that you could do MUCH better. After "testing" Smartdrive for the first time, the "DISPLAY GRAPH" command button becomes active: click there to get a Pie Chart that visualizes the percentages of Hits and Misses. You also get, as special bonus!, one "HIDE GRAPH", one "DISPLAY REPORT" and the "ABOUT" command buttons... Click on "DISPLAY REPORT" (or Double Click anywhere on the Pie Chart) to get the complete Smartdrive report, as if you had issued the command "SMARTDRV /S" at any DOS prompt. The "EXIT" button, well, it just does that: terminates the program and cleans up after itself. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "SMARTDRIVE 4.0 TESTER" IS A FREE ©1992 COPYRIGHTED PROGRAM OF GIORGIO VIDALI 313 ELMWOOD ROAD NORTH MARLTON, NJ 08053 PHONE (609) 596-4341 COMPUSERVE 70531,3150 -----------------------------------------------------------------------