A disk utility is a utility program that allows a user to perform various functions on a computer disk, such as disk partitioning and logical volume management, as well as multiple smaller tasks such as changing drive letters and other mount points, renaming volumes, disk checking, and disk formatting, which are otherwise handled separately by multiple other built-in commands.[1] Each operating system (OS) has its own basic disk utility, and there are also separate programs which can recognize and adjust the different filesystems of multiple OSes. Types of disk utilities include disk checkers, disk cleaners and disk space analyzers
Disk Analyzer enables you to understand how much space the files and directories on your disk have taken up, and helps you find files and folders that you no longer use. The tool analyses your disk drives and collects statistics of directory sizes and files sizes by type, which you can view as overview charts and details tables. The disk space manager TreeSize Free tells you where precious disk space has gone. Visualize disk space usage with the treemap chart. Gain in-depth information in the column view. Filter scan results and break down information to better clean up your hard disk. Scan smartphones and mobile devices connected to you PC.
Disk cleaners[edit]
Disk cleaners are computer programs that find and delete potentially unnecessary or potentially unwanted files from a computer. The purpose of such deletion may be to free up disk space, to eliminate clutter or to protect privacy.
Disk space consuming unnecessary files include temporary files, trash, old backups and web caches made by web browsers. Privacy risks include HTTP cookies, local shared objects, log files or any other trace that may tell which computer program opened which files.
Disk cleaners must not be mistaken with antivirus software (which delete malware), registry cleaners (which clean Microsoft Windows Registry) or data erasure software (which securely delete files), although multifunction software (such as those included below) may fit into all these categories.
Disk compression utilities[edit]
A disk compression utility increases the amount of information that can be stored on a hard disk drive of given size. Unlike a file compression utility which compresses only specified files – and which requires the user designate the files to be compressed – an on-the-fly disk compression utility works automatically without the user needing to be aware of its existence.
When information needs to be stored to the hard disk, the utility will compress the information. When information needs to be read, the utility will decompress the information. A disk compression utility overrides the standard operating system routines. Since all software applications access the hard disk using these routines, they continue to work after disk compression has been installed. The compression/expansion process adds a small amount of overhead to disk access and may complicate error recovery on the affected volume. Also, if the compression utility's device driver was uninstalled or became corrupted, all data on the disk would be lost.
Disk compression utilities were popular especially in the early 1990s, when microcomputer hard disks were still relatively small (20 to 80 megabytes).[2] Hard drives were also rather expensive at the time, costing roughly 10 USD per megabyte. For the users who bought disk compression applications, the software proved to be in the short term a more economic means of acquiring more disk space as opposed to replacing their current drive with a larger one. A good disk compression utility could, on average, double the available space with negligible speed loss. Mac on my pc. Disk compression fell into disuse by the late 1990s, as advances in hard drive technology and manufacturing led to increased capacities and lower prices.
Some examples of disk compression utilities:
- DriveSpace for Microsoft Windows
- DiskDoubler for Macintosh
- SquashFS for Linux
Disk checkers[edit]
A disk checker is a utility program which can scan a hard disk to find files or areas that are corrupted in some way, or were not correctly saved, and eliminate them for a more efficiently operating hard drive. This is not to be confused with a disk cleaner, which can find files that are unnecessary for computer operation, or take up considerable amounts of space.
Some disk checkers can perform a whole surface scan to attempt to find any possible bad sectors, whereas others scan only the logical structure of files on the hard disk.
Operating systems often include one such tool. For example:
Disk layout tools[edit]
Disk formatting and disk partitioning tools are responsible for generating low level disk layouts and file systems. Operating systems typically supply one or more programs performing these functions as part of their standard install:
Disk Space Analyzer Windows 10
In Windows:
In Mac OS:
Voice memo 2 1 – record voice memos. In Linux:
- GNOME Disks (also known as Disks or gnome-disk-utility or palimpsest)
Disk space analyzers[edit]
A disk space analyzer (or disk usage analysis software) is a software utility for the visualization of disk space usage by getting the size for each folder (including sub-folders) and files in a folder or drive. Most of these applications analyze this information to generate a graphical chart showing disk usage distribution according to folders or other user defined criteria.
Some disk space analyzers like DiskReport allow analysis of history of size and file count for each folder, to help find growing folders.
Examples:
- DiskReport
- GNOME Disk Usage Analyzer
- KDE Filelight
References[edit]
- ^Gerend, Jason; Tobin, John (12 December 2017). 'Overview of Disk Management'. Microsoft. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
- ^Kozierok, Charles M. (17 April 2001). 'Disk Compression'. The PC Guide.
| Developer(s) | Bernhard Seifert and Oliver Schneider |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1 October 2003; 17 years ago |
| Stable release | 1.1.2 / 2 September 2007; 13 years ago |
| Repository | |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Platform | IA-32 |
| Size | 0.6 MB |
| Type | Disk space analyzer |
| License | GNU GPLv2 |
| Website | windirstat.net |
Disk Drive Space Analyzer
WinDirStat is a free and open-source graphical disk usage analyzer for Microsoft Windows. It is notable for presenting a sub-tree view with disk use percentage alongside a usage-sorted list of file extensions that is interactively integrated with a colorful graphical display (a treemap).[1][2][3] Created as an open source project released under the GNU GPL, it was developed using Visual C++/MFC 7.0 and distributed using Sourceforge. The project was inspired by KDirStat, a KDE application for Unix-like operating systems.[4][5]
Popularity[edit]
WinDirStat has been downloaded more than 9.2 million times from the official source since the original release in October 2003.[6] As of July 2014, it is the second most downloaded 'Filesystems' software on SourceForge with over 13,000 downloads per week.[7] The tool is still up to date and its usage is designed for all platforms.
Project status[edit]
The most recent release was in September 2007 and development stopped for some time after that. However, the project's blog noted that development resumed in May 2009 and some updates to the code were added in 2016.[8]
WinDirStat has been downloaded more than 9.2 million times from the official source since the original release in October 2003.[6] As of July 2014, it is the second most downloaded 'Filesystems' software on SourceForge with over 13,000 downloads per week.[7] The tool is still up to date and its usage is designed for all platforms.
Project status[edit]
The most recent release was in September 2007 and development stopped for some time after that. However, the project's blog noted that development resumed in May 2009 and some updates to the code were added in 2016.[8]
Source code[edit]
Source code is provided for all released versions on the SourceForge page in ZIP format.
WinDirStat is developed via Mercurial revision control.
Features[edit]
- List of detected file extensions, and the percentage of space each file extension takes up.
- Each extension has its own color on the graphical map.
- Is able to scan internal, external and networked drives.
- Portable version besides the installer
- User-created clean up jobs
- Send report via email
Version history[edit]
| Version | Date | Information |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1.2 (#2) | September 2007 | Added translations: Finnish, Dutch, Russian, Estonian |
| 1.1.2 (#1) | September 2006 | Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, and Czech translations. Minor optimization |
| 1.1.1 | January 2005 | 'Christmas Release' Pacman replaces progress bar, Polish translation, localization tweaks, documentation updates, bugfixes |
| 1.1.0 | January 2004 | Added French translation, feature tweaks, bugfixes |
| 1.0.1 | December 2003 | Bugfixes, added more display columns, added drive selection dialog |
| 1.0.0 | October 2003 | First release. 1.0.0 README states: Design and many details are based on KDirStat (kdirstat.sourceforge.net). WinDirStat is 'a KDirStat re-programmed for MS Windows'. |
Media reception[edit]
FossHub (official download mirror of WinDirStat) reported 6,912,000 in January 2019, being the most downloaded software from 'Disk Analysers' category.'[9]
Steve Bass of PC World provided a brief review of the 1.1.2 release of WinDirStat, summarizing its usefulness: 'Windirstat is [a] colorful and nifty tool to check the makeup of your hard drive -- especially if you're looking for immense files. It scans your drive and produces a treemap that shows each file as a colored rectangle that's proportional to the file's size.'[10]
In 2006, WinDirStat was Slots lv no deposit codes 2016. 'Download of the day' on Lifehacker. Reviewer Adam Pash praised WinDirStat for its ability to easily clean up unnecessary files, by stating: 'If you find a large file or two taking up loads of space that you had forgotten was there and don't need, it's easy to clean up directly from WinDirStat. '
CNET reviewed the most recent release of WinDirStat and gave it 5 of 5 stars. It called WinDirStat a 'great piece of freeware' and noted: 'It's one of those tools that you didn't know you needed until you started using it, but once installed, it's hard to imagine life without it.'[11]
Gizmo's Freeware directory featured WinDirStat in a January 2010 list of best free disk analysis software with a 4 of 5 stars review, noting: 'The open source program WinDirStat is [an] outstanding program. It uses three ways to display the disk usage: a directory list, a file extension list and a rectangular treemap. The visual presentation, overall usability and scan speed makes this a great tool to visualize disk usage.'[12] Icompta 6 0 14 – manage personal finances for a.
The German computer magazine c't (magazin für computertechnik) published a review of WinDirStat with it bundled in a CD in October 2006.[13]
In 2011, Jack Wallen from TechRepublic called WinDirStat: 'one of those simple little apps you are going to be very thankful you have when you need it.' He also highlighted its usability: 'If space is an issue (.) you will see just how much time this tool can save you.' However, Jack Wallen criticized the documentation, stating: 'The biggest issue with WinDirStat is the documentation. The minute you try to create your own user-configured cleanup routines you will quickly experience a complete lack of documentation, which makes the task rather challenging, if not impossible.'[14]
Derived Programs[edit]
Because WinDirStat is open source, other programs have been created based on WinDirStat. A popular version called AltWinDirStat was started in 2015.[15] This software removes some features (such as multiple language support) from the original, but features massively faster speed. Development is ongoing.
References[edit]
- ^Yegulalp, Serdar (2010-03-10). 'Top free troubleshooting tools for Windows'. BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on 2010-03-23.
- ^'Disk Space Analyzer: WinDirStat'. Maximum PC: PC Fix-It Guide. Future US: 56. Summer 2007. ISSN1522-4279.
- ^Immler, Christian (2005). Windows XP Professional. Franzis. p. 247. ISBN978-3-7723-7206-3.
- ^Bernhard. 'Background and history'. WinDirStat website. Retrieved 1 Apr 2015.
- ^'KDirStat'. Retrieved 1 Apr 2015.
- ^'Browse WinDirStat: Windows Directory Statistics'. SourceForge. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
- ^'Filesystems software sorted by popularity'.
- ^'Will resume development now'. WinDirStat Blog. 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
- ^'Download WinDirStat - FossHub'. WinDirStat FossHub page. 2019-01-12. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
- ^Bass, Steve. 'Editorial Review of Windirstat'. PC World. Archived from the original on 2012-07-04. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^'WinDirStat 1.1.2: CNET editors' review'. CNET. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^'Best Free Disk Analyzer'. Gizmo's Freeware. 2010-01-21. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^'WDS featured in c't'. WinDirStat weblog. 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
- ^'Review: WinDirStat disk usage cleanup tool'. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^https://github.com/ariccio/altWinDirStat
External links[edit]
