BufferedStreamSize := $30000?

[Jon Lloyd]

Kevin,

I have been using
BufferedStreamSize := $20000;
to speed up my diskette backups. With the idea that sometimes more is better I tried
BufferedStreamSize := $30000;
with another dramatic improvement in diskette backup time.

Is there a downside or problem with setting
BufferedStreamSize := $30000;

Thanks
Jon Lloyd

[Kevin]

If it works for you then it is good, but setting this to a very high value can cause memory problems in certain situations. Borland's memory manager has a fragmentation problem sometimes when this setting is high and you are zipping a VERY HIGH number of files into your archive. But this is not always the case.

One way to eliminate the downside is to use a different memory manager. I have been using MultiMM, a free, public domain memory manager in the VCLZip Zip Utility Example that you can download from the website. It simply consists of two files, MULTIMM.PAS and HPMM.PAS. Put these two file in your search path for your project and then add MultiMM as the very first file in your USES list in your PROJECT SOURCE file. Note that is not your main form, it should be your project source file.

Other 3rd party memory managers should probably work too.

Kevin

[Jon Lloyd]

Kevin,

I'm already using MultiMM.

Is $30000 an unusually high value?

I have lots of memory on my machine but have no idea about my end users. Typically there are only about 140 files saved to the zip and the zip typically fits on a single diskette.

Jon Lloyd

[Kevin]

It's probably fine, but I have not done any thorough testing of different values, so I don't really have anything to base an answer on.

[Jon Lloyd]

Thanks Kevin,

I'll let you know if I run into problems with the larger value.


Jon Lloyd