What, an encore performance, you say?

I decided to re-release the 2.03 (Beta 3) build this morning after discovering a defect in the new drive space panel code that would cause the host computer’s floppy drive(s) to spin every so often. Ooops. I might have caught the problem prior to releasing the beta if I hadn’t been doing all my development on a laptop that lacks any floppy drives, and my platform testing within virtual machines (that also lack floppy drives)!

Fortunately, the problem was reported quickly by a beta tester (thanks Larry) and is now resolved.

So if you downloaded 2.03 yesterday, please snag it again and re-install. Your floppy drives will be appreciative.

Note that you can still configure FolderSizes to scan your floppy drive(s) by changing the “ignore these drives” settings in tools | options. If you elect to do so, you might also want to disable the auto-refresh setting at the same time, otherwise your floppy drive(s) will spin periodically. Keep in mind that the drive space panel can now be refreshed manually via the view menu (or with Alt+F5).

The third (and most likely the final) beta of BulletProof FolderSizes v2.0 was released today.

One of the most significant changes in this build is a new ability to customize the drive space panel. You can now configure it to show whatever drive types you like (e.g. removable drives, network drives, etc.) and not just local fixed drives. It can also be set to ignore specific drive letters, ignore drives of indeterminate size, and more.

This build also introduces the ability to recognize (and optionally ignore) file system reparse points, such as volume mount points and directory junctions (e.g. symbolic links).

Lots of other improvements and a few bug fixes, too. See the complete release notes (and download the new beta) at the beta web page.

The second beta version of 2.0 (version 2.02) was released today.

This build re-gains support for Windows NT4 and 95, fixes a couple of bugs found during tests against 2.01, and even introduces a couple minor features / improvements. Complete information (and download) available from the v2.0 beta web page.

Snag it, folks, and let me know what you think. And, like I always say… don’t forget to report any bugs you find.

Those network administrators beta testing the new v2.0 version of BulletProof FolderSizes seem pretty happy. Why? Because v2.0 substantially improves support for scanning network drives and folders, making it trivial to produce disk space usage reports for computers on the LAN.

Specifically, v2.0 of BulletProof FolderSizes allows for the specification of a UNC path in every path input box contained in the software. You can find large files and folders, duplicate files, old files, temporary files, and report on distribution of space per file type… both on local and network connected computers.

This capability is particularly powerful when coupled with v2.0′s new command-line interface. Is it now possible to invoke BulletProof FolderSizes from a batch script, have it scan a network drive, tell it to export the scan results in HTML to a folder accessible via your web server, and then exit. Repeat as required in the batch script, and when you wake up in the morning, you can access all these reports remotely via your web server. Or export them to XML and use XSLT to transform them to whatever format you prefer.

Now that’s just plain cool.

Hello!

Sorry if the blog has been a little quiet lately – I’ve been head down, hard at work on the next version of BulletProof FolderSizes – v2.0!

Today I’m announcing the public availability of the first BETA version of v2.0. A new web page dedicated to the beta has been launched at this location:

http://www.keymetricsoft.com/beta/foldersizes/

Please be sure to read the introductory paragraphs, and note that Windows NT4/95 are not yet supported (but will be in the final release build of v2.0). The BETA does support 98/ME/Win2k/XP and Windows Server 2003, so dig in!

As always, the most critical point with any BETA is that you send me your feedback and, if necessary, bug reports. Remember – I can’t fix bugs I don’t know about. And your feedback drives the product development process. So bring it on!

(BTW, I’m particularly keen to see what you folks think about the new FilterZip tool

An interesting trend that I’ve noticed in the area of software development is that most users generally expect their product feedback (including bug reports) to be ignored when they send it to developers. Generally when those using BulletProof FolderSizes contact me with suggestions, ideas, or a note about some unexpected behavior, they express surprise when I respond to them. I find this state of affairs somewhat absurd, since without its user base, a software product is essentially without value.

So let me just briefly re-iterate a basic fact about the development processes behind BulletProof FolderSizes – they are entirely customer driven. I’ve received a tremendous amount of input from the user community, in a wide variety of forms, and every bit of it (from defect reports to feature requests) is carefully scrutinized, classified, and prioritized. In this regard, I consider BulletProof FolderSizes to be a collaboration between myself and its users, and I am very committed to that process.

So again, please don’t hesitate to contact me with your thoughts, even if it’s just to describe how you use BulletProof FolderSizes, and I’ll do my best to respond in a timely manner. I also personally guarantee that your feedback makes a difference.

Lately I’ve been getting quite a few inquiries from users asking about how BulletProof FolderSizes gets the level of raw speed that it does, especially when compared with other products.

Well, obviously I can’t give away all my tricks, but I can to touch upon the basics.

• Native code – BP FolderSizes is developed in high-performance C++, compiled down to native machine code.
• Memory tuning – Great care is taken with regard to memory allocation. Less memory consumption means less paging, which means greater speed.
• Thread management – Threads are managed carefully to avoid context switches and maximize user interface responsiveness.
• Stress testing / profiling – FolderSizes is tested under the most extreme environmental conditions and evaluated with sophisticated profiling tools.
• Algorithm tuning – Every data filtering, processing, and aggregation algorithm is carefully scrutinized to maximize speed.

Although this isn’t terribly specific (grin), my point is that the performance and stability characteristics of BP FolderSizes are rooted in sound programming practices. Sure, I’ve got a few cards up my sleeve – but mostly I just enjoy sweating the details.