DriveGauge 2.0
Infinite Nexus Software

What is DriveGauge?

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DriveGauge is a simple utility designed to give you visual feedback and information on how full your hard drives are directly on the icon. It works for many different types of media including hard drives (both physical and partitions), iPods, and FireWire drives [these are the currently tested and working media, if DG works for other media in your experience please drop me a line and let me know at: brianganninger@mac.com.]
 
DriveGauge is built as a visual interpretation of the UNIX df command (for the curious just open a Terminal window and type df and hit Return) The original inspiration came from an article at Liquid.org (an HCI site that unfortunately is no longer available) 

How do I install it?
Simple as can be. Once downloaded DriveGauge will automatically copy itself to your Desktop and you can then drag it into any folder on your hard drive(s) that you'd like it to be in (I recommend Applications or Applications > Utilities) If you want to remove DriveGauge, just throw it in the Trash and you're done (and there are also some preferences stored in your Home > Library > Preferences folder if you'd like to completely remove all traces.) 

How does it work?
Launch DriveGauge and it will automatically build a Volume Matrix containing a list of all your currently mounted drives and relevant information about them. Click the Lock button to authorize your usage (menus and buttons will not work until you do), and then select which volumes you'd like to have gauges on. Simply click the "Apply" button and DG will then draw the appropriate gauge over each selected drive's icon. (changes take effect once the Finder restarts, logout is recommended for functionality to appear in some dialogs  and the Dock.) 

Note: If the icon in the Dock does not update once your system has restarted, drag the volume's old icon out of the Dock and then drag the volume back to the appropriate position in the Dock from the Desktop (or a Finder window) and the new icon will be used. This issue only occurs with Dock icons for volumes. Gauged icons will automatically appear in Finder views,  save/open dialogs, et. all either when invoked or once the Finder has restarted. 

How do I recover my old icons?
DriveGauge fully supports custom icons and backs them up when detected. You can easily restore these when the "Restore" button is clicked (if the user is authorized.) DriveGauge will then restore the icon for each drive selected in the Volume Matrix. As seen in the screenshot below, DriveGauge will warn you before deleting your current icons and replacing them with the backup(s). This also removes the backup icons from each volume. 

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Note: if for some reason an icon will not remove even after restoring a couple of times you can always delete an icon by using the Finder's Get Info window on the offending drive and then selecting the icon in the window and hitting the Delete key, which will remove any custom icons. 

Resources
Always be sure to check out http://homepage.mac.com/brianganninger/inexus/dg/ for the latest information about DriveGauge. Check the Help menu for handy e-mail links for support & feedback. 

This software utilizes the uber-useful  IconFamily Cocoa wrapper by Troy Stephens which is available at http://homepage.mac.com/troy_stephens/software/objects/IconFamily/content.html. This software also uses TDBCTableCells 1.2 from Jasendo Technologies (http://jasendo.ca). 

The background in the these screenshots is H30 by Rob David Rantoul of Plasma Design (http://www.plasmadesign.co.uk) and they were taken with Snapz Pro by Ambrosia Software (http://www.ambrosiasw.com).  Icon designed with Can Combine Icons (http://www.ittpoi.com).

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Slava Karpenko for beta testing & programming tips, Lisa Higgins, Jason Robinson & Wes Clayton for their encouragement, joar & the helpful programmers of the cocoa-dev mailing list and the indispensible CocoaDevCentral.com. 

Known Issues
1) Some compositing errors might creep up (jagged edges, black spots)
2) When checking for updates, DG does not currently detect if there's a connection so please make sure you are connected to the Internet before using this feature (this app will lock up if the Internet isn't accessible)
3) The default icon when a custom icon is not present is currently limited to a hard drive icon, so FW/iPod/USB devices without a custom icon will receive a gauged HD as that drive's icon (future versions of DG will correct this) 
4) The Volume Matrix is only created once when first ran; the reload functionality currently refreshes the information, but does not run the df command again. 

Version History
2.0 - New interface
	  - Volume Matrix (selectable apply)
	  - Live preview (before applying)
	  - In-view statistics (current icon, name, location, percent used)
	  - Dock menu reconfigured for volume list interface
      - Selectable application of gauges (per volume)
      - Speed increase
      - Reconfigured Internet updating
      - New icon
      - Distributed as an 'internet-enabled' disk image
1.1.6  - Authentication bugfix, speed increase
1.1.5  - Save/Restore bug fixed, other minor bugfixes
1.1    - Authentication (no unauthorized icon altering)
	- Internet "Check for Updates" item
	- Dock menu
1.0 - Public Preview 

License Agreement
DRIVEGAUGE ("THE SOFTWARE") IS PROVIDED AS IS. USE THE SOFTWARE AT YOUR OWN RISK. INFINITE NEXUS ("THE AUTHOR") MAKES NO WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION FROM OR INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE, MISUSE, OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THESE EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY IN ALL JURISDICTIONS. YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS AND SOME OF THESE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

DriveGauge is Copyright ©2003, Infinite Nexus
Any trademarks mentioned are property of their respective owners.