DiskDoubler 4.x, Autodoubler, DD Expand & DiskTester

Shared by: MR
On: 2014-04-14 23:07:49
Updated by: MR
On: 2023-12-23 17:11:27
Other contributors: InkBlot , Amid , Evantosh , that-ben
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What is DiskDoubler 4.x, Autodoubler, DD Expand & DiskTester?

Disk Doubler was a program often used in the 90's for quickly and conveniently compressing files on your mac to save space as larger hard drives at the time often came at a heavy expense. For more details, check out the video linked above! It discusses Disk Doubler along with the accelerator card (mentioned in the title and thumbnail) and some of it's competitors as well!


The original DiskDoubler (DD) could compress files into a disk-space-saving format faster and more tightly than its competition. And DD was breathtakingly simple to use. You highlighted a file’s icon and chose Compress from the DD menu in the Finder. A simple double-click sufficed to both expand and open a DD file. But it didn’t take long for rivals Stuffit (Aladdin Systems) and Now Compress (Now Software) to duplicate DD’s Finder-menu interface — and its compression efficiency. The world waited: would 4.0 again set DD in the forefront?

In pure efficiency terms, yes. DD has five compression settings, three of which are new. The default, DD1, compresses by a few percentage points faster and tighter than other programs. Other options strike different positions on the speed-and-tightness trade-off scale. For example, the AD1 setting compressed my test files in one-sixth the time of Stuffit, but it compressed them only half as much. At the opposite extreme, the DD3 setting crunches files to an average of 40 percent of their original size, but it takes a third longer than Stuffit to do the deed. You realize the most dramatic speed gains, however, when expanding DD’s files; regardless of the compression setting, DD files decompress about twice as fast as Stuffit or Now Compress.

DD can also open or convert StuffIt files. (StuffIt, on the other hand, can open a long list of Mac and IBM compression formats.) Unfortunately, the three new DD 4.0 file types can’t be opened by older DD versions. Better send the free DD Expand 4.0 program to all your digital correspondents, or you’ll be stranded on an island of incompatibility.

DiskDoubler also now offers archiving, which lets you compress multiple files into a single icon. Using a clever Finder-like interface, you can add files to, remove files from, or move files among archives, simply by dragging icons. Alas, you must do all this from a separate application; for the first time, DD users have to step out of the Finder’s familiar bounds.

Unfortunately, what you notice most about the new DiskDoubler isn’t what’s new. It’s what’s missing. You can no longer add passwords to self-extracting files. You can no longer opt to recompress files automatically. The Skip button (when compressing a group of files) is gone. The Verify/Repair program (helpful for inspecting flaky archives) is no longer included. Gone, too, is Fifth Generation’s toll-free help; instead, Symantec charges $25 per call after 90 days.

Symantec also removed the most loved feature of all: DD’s ingenious ability to expand and open a compressed file with a double-click. You must now double-click once to expand a file, wait, and then double-click again to open it.

Fortunately, DD users’ venomous response to the 4.0 “downgrade” has had a salutary effect: the company finally promised to restore the auto-open feature in version 4.1, projected to be available in mid-June.

When that day arrives, DiskDoubler again should become the most elegant, efficient, easy-to-use file-compression program available. Fie on thee, Symantec, for stripping DiskDoubler of its original flexibility and charm — but blessings on thee for putting the best of it back.

Pogue, David. (August 1994). DiskDoubler 4.0. Macworld. (pg. 77).


Download DiskDoubler 4.x, Autodoubler, DD Expand & DiskTester for Mac

(352.25 KiB / 360.7 KB)
/ Binary encoded, use Stuffit Expander
408 / 2014-04-14 / 2023-05-05 / 347c05db4d118f2104271f509ea306a95cb62d0f / /
(1.02 MiB / 1.07 MB)
/ BinHex'd, use Stuffit Expander
210 / 2015-08-09 / b054ec70555c6372a0ecc4304d288a2b40de6bd1 / /


Architecture


68K + PPC (FAT)



System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.0 up to Mac OS 9.2





Compatibility notes


Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver





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