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1991-12-16
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2KB
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44 lines
Every time I use CHKDSK.COM, I want it to tell me just two
things: how much space is left on my disk and how much
memory is free. On a fast machine this information comes
quickly, but on an early PC or one with a slow hard disk,
the wait can be intolerable. This problem led me to develop
Freespace (FS.COM). It's many times faster than CHKDSK,
produces a clearer display (in color on most machines), and
needs less than 4K of RAM, as opposed to CHKDSK's 40K.
I've tested Freespace on 8088s, 80286s, and 80386s using DOS
3.0 to 3.3. To use it, type fs d: where d: is any valid
drive. If you type just fs, the program uses the default
drive.
Brian Mowers
Southfield, Michigan
Editor's note: Mr. Mowers doesn't mention one of the best
applications for his program: networked drives, where
CHKDSK, which needs exclusive access to the physical drive,
doesn't work at all. I altered his original code to let the
program work on disks larger than 64MB and to fix a few
minor bugs. You can find the program FS.COM in the P4UTIL
directory of your PowerBase *.* Volume IV diskette; all you
need to do is move it to a directory in your PATH.
If you compare FS.COM's memory estimate to CHKDSK's, you'll
see that it's more conservative. The reason: CHKDSK adds
back its environment space and FS doesn't. FS's number is
probably closer to the actual amount of memory a program
will have available when it runs.
Postscript: This utility was originally named MF.COM, but PC
World's editors changed the name to FS.COM. Unfortunately,
the latter name conflicts with the FS (File Size) program in
Symantec's popular Norton Utilities, so it's a good idea to
rename this utility if you use the Norton package.
Title: To Boldly Go Where CHKDSK Can't
Category: MSC
Issue date: Aug 1991
Editor: Brett Glass
Supplementary files: P4UTIL\FS.COM