is Powershdow harmful to Harddisk?

Discussion in 'sandboxing & virtualization' started by koreanmark, May 18, 2007.

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  1. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    Is the comment below correct?

     
    Last edited: May 18, 2007
  2. Huupi

    Huupi Registered Member

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    from your expl. it seems the way it does,but how long is PS around,million users around the globe.googling it no mention to drive crashes due to PS,but maybe your right from theoretical view with not that big impact on daily use.... i hope so,hope you are wrong,time will tell.
     
  3. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    As I know, they publish PS in freeware in China. This helps them to get millions of users there. But few western people know chinese and never can find drive crashes report in chinese forums.

    BTW, I come from Korea, I know some chinese characters. There are 195,000 search result in google that report problem of drive crashes by PS in chinese.
     
  4. mitchelson

    mitchelson Registered Member

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    PS doesn't use drive "cashe buffer", maybe " RAM" instead.
    So many people can't figure out how PS works, till now all guess/theories from users just prove wrong.
    But only thing that quite for sure: PS is comletely no harmful to hard drive .
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2007
  5. mitchelson

    mitchelson Registered Member

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    I'm from china and have used PS for quite a long time, but I've never heard of such drive-crash problems.
    Many PS users keep saying that? I quite doubt it.Maybe, just because the quality of hard drive is not good enough.
     
  6. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    Thanks, I think I am clear now. But how many RAM will need by PS if I copy 7 GB movies from DVD to disk?
     
  7. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    to mitchelson:
    Thanks very much.
    BTW, in China, only $50 can buy a source code like PS, yes?
     
  8. mitchelson

    mitchelson Registered Member

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    I don't know the specific infor about how PS works either. Sorry.

    If u just wanna copy huge files to "un-shadowed" disk or partition, never warry about RAM space .

    :)
     
  9. mitchelson

    mitchelson Registered Member

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    Really? I haven't heard that PS wants to sell its source code out in such a low price!
    If it's true, I have to say that company is a little stupid & I will definitely buy one copy of that.
    IMO, I just consider this as a fake news. :D
     
  10. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    I tested copying 8GB data from D drive to my C drive just now while in shadow mode, it works well on my XP.

    BTW, I have only 512 MB RAM and the pagefiles in my computer is 1024 MB. if there is no "Cache buffer" in the harddisk, how can?
     
  11. mitchelson

    mitchelson Registered Member

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    JUST see if your hard-drive is working or not.(by the status of HD light ).
    If the light is off, DO NOT worry about your HD anymore.

    As I am not the developer of PS, I too wonder the way of PS works.
    Sorry for not being able to tell u more. But, no relation with drive-cashe, this is true.
     
  12. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    Thanks. If PS cause many bad sectors on the harddisk, a lower-format may fix it. But if it casue the physical damage, I think it will be dangerous.
     
  13. mitchelson

    mitchelson Registered Member

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    Having searched for a while in google&discussed with someone else, I have to admit that comment you quoted seems reasonable to some extent.

    PS may use the free space on harddisk for any system alteration / apps writing data .
    But, how this action connect with HD physical damage? The effect to HD cause by PS just seems the same like other "common" apps.

    Suggestion:
    1. Allocate the "pagefiles" to other partitions rather than" c:\ " .
    2. Don't try to copy huge files or install huge softwares to system partition in shadow mode. -------If you do so, error may occur.
     
  14. steve161

    steve161 Registered Member

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    Interesting discussion. I would like to hear some more opinions about this, but a good question is: How many times can you write/delete to a specific part of your HD safely? Is there a point where you will damage it? And does PS cause any further damage than just normal usage?
     
  15. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I am having a hard time buying this hard disk problem. By using Perfect DIsk frequently I am keeping all the files in one general area of the drive. Did this for 4 years on one machine with no problems, so it's hard to see how PS could cause a problem with a cache.

    Pete
     
  16. Perman

    Perman Registered Member

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    Hi, folks: Nice discussions and invaluable info re: cache/ram buffer. To this this day, PS's feature of being able to switch from normal to shadowed mode on the fly without any rebooting is still puzzling me. This buffer theory may shed some lights. I have been suspecting that PS may indeed produce two snapshot or its like to facilitate that switch feature. This cache/ram buffer theory may hold some merits. :)
     
  17. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    oh! If shadow mode is on, MAYBE All the action of writing to harddisk actually happen in the "cache buffer".

    Day and days. Hope it will not cut down the life of my harddisk.:'(
     
  18. Chuck57

    Chuck57 Registered Member

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    And, of those 195,000 reports, many will be duplicates? I wonder how many crashes there are, on average, of computers without Powershadow? Out of millions of computers, some will be older and ready to die anyway.

    Powershadow is a great software. If by chance it does shorten my hard disk life by a few thousand hours, I'll probably be looking for a new computer by then anyway.
     
  19. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Frankly this is becoming a rather foolish discussion. KoreanMark, you seem to be using a silly argument to keep questioning Power Shadow.

    Anyone who uses a defragger is keeping files in the same area of the disk with no ill effect.

    Either provide some evidence from a credible, verifiable source or drop it.

    Pete
     
  20. WilliamP

    WilliamP Registered Member

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    How could PS be any more harmful to a hard drive than any other software such as FD-ISR, DeepFreeze, ShadowProtect or defragging ?
     
  21. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    Out of millions of computers? Really?

    As I know, Powershadow is a freeware in China.

    Here is the Powershadow download link in the largest software website in China.
    http://www.skycn.com/soft/26716.html
    there are only about 6,000 download count since 05/10/2006.

    Here is the Powershadow download link in the download.com.
    http://www.download.com/Power-Shadow/3000-2094_4-10373687.html
    there are only about 4,400 download count since 11/1/2005.

    I am confused now. Where the millions of users come from?
     
  22. Chuck57

    Chuck57 Registered Member

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    I don't know where the millions come from. I'm using your quote above, "This helps them to get millions of users there. But few western people know chinese and never can find drive crashes report in chinese forums."

    Where does the 195,000 hard drive failures come from if there are less about 11,000 downloads since 5/10/2006?
     
  23. flinchlock

    flinchlock Registered Member

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  24. koreanmark

    koreanmark Registered Member

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    I think the Skycn.com and download.com will not cheat us. They are the most popular site in China and USA. yes?
     
  25. Perman

    Perman Registered Member

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    Hi, folks: I remember Mr. Bao, PS's chief Engineer, has mentioned on one occasion that they also OEM for a number of companies including some East European Countries. If so, these MMM(head spinning number) may hold some water here. ;)
     
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