                            Waste/2 v1.00 Documentation
                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Purpose
~~~~~~~
        Waste/2 is a utility program designed to calculate the amount of disk
        space lost to cluster size allocation.  No matter the size of a file,
        full clusters must be allocated to hold them, regardless of if an
        integer number of clusters is required.  For instance, a 1 byte file
        still uses a complete cluster.

        OS/2's HPFS file system has a standard cluster size of 512 bytes.
        This means that a 1 byte file will waste 511 bytes of space.
        However, Dos' FAT file system has a variable cluster size, varying
        from 512 bytes up to 8k.  Meaning that at best, 511 bytes are lost,
        and at worst, 8191 bytes are wasted.

        Waste/2 will calculate exactly how much space is lost on your system,
        with your files.  It works on HPFS or FAT drives, and will show you
        exactly what's happening to your space.  It happens that while HPFS
        has a better mathematical average, it's theoretically possible, if
        you had several partial-cluster files on an HPFS drive, and no
        partial-cluster files on a FAT drive, that the FAT drive would
        therefore be more space efficient.  Waste/2 will figure out exactly
        what you've got wasted.  Mind you, it happens that if you have no
        partial-cluster files at all, both file systems rate out at 0 bytes
        wasted.  Using HPFS can never be worse than FAT, for the same set of
        files.

     Examples of using Waste/2:


Usage
~~~~~
      Waste [x:]

        <x:>      Specifies the drive you wish Waste/2 to scan.  Waste/2 is
                  case-insensitive, and supports all hard drive letters you
                  could normally "dir".  Waste/2 supports floppy drives,
                  despite the fact that they are mind-bogglingly slow, and
                  that they are always formatted to FAT anyway.  Still, this
                  ability is provided in the event that future versions of
                  OS/2 allow for different floppy formats.

        Running Waste/2 with no parameters will scan the current drive.

The Future
~~~~~~~~~~
        It is planned that Waste/2 will some day acquire a Object Oriented,
        Multi-Media interface with support for popular Virtual Reality
        hardware, except that annoying Nintendo GameGlove thing.  Really,
        Waste/2 is a very simple program, and no further features are
        intended, except possibly adding a PM front-end.  Suggestions are,
        however, welcome.

License
~~~~~~~
        Waste/2 v1.00 is Copyright 1993-1994 by Paul S. Gazo, Windsor,
        Ontario, Canada.

        You are hereby granted the license to use Waste/2 for as long as you
        choose to.  However, no modifications to the executable are allowed,
        without prior consent from the author.

        You are allowed to give Waste/2 to anyone at any time provided
        that no charge is made and ALL the original files are given -
        including this DOC.  BBS systems or Shareware vendors may only
        charge a nominal disk handling or subscription fee.

        All programs mentioned are a trademark or copyright of their
        respective owners.


Contacting the Author
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Should any problems or questions arise about the use of Waste/2
        then you can reach the authors any of the following ways:

        On the Internet
               gazo@netcore.ca

        Personally
               Paul S. Gazo
               861 Old Tecumseh Rd. RR#1
               Belle River, Ontario
               N0R 1A0 CANADA
               (519) 979-9223

          Thank you for your support of the Shareware concept and of Waste/2.
