Reformat clusters on Flashcards to add file storage space

1KCLUS 1.0 (ON DISK icon) is a 1K cluster disk reformatter that will reformat a flashcard to use 1K clusters. Normally, the 100/ 200LX will format a flashcard with 4K (4096 bytes) clusters. Let's say you save a small file that occupies 120 bytes. The minimum storage unit on the flashcard is one cluster. One file always occupies at least one cluster, and always a whole number of clusters. If your flashcard is using 4K clusters, the 120-byte file is really occupying 4096 bytes -- there are 3976 empty bytes in the cluster that are wasted. If you use 1K clusters on your flashcard, the amount of slack would be only 904 bytes, saving you 3072 bytes.

1KCLUS.ZIP is not for use with Stacker or other "automatic" file compression programs, as they ignore cluster boundaries anyway. It is intended for those who require the faster file access of an uncompressed disk, but want some additional file storage capacity.

Some people have reported using the DIET (ON DISK icon) file compression program on a flashcard formatted with 1KCLUS and receiving as much as 50% compression.

To use 1KCLUS on a flashcard, unzip 1KCLUS.ZIP and follow the simple directions in the 1K_CLUS.DOC documentation file. Be sure to first backup all files on drive a as this program will destroy all data on your flashcard and you will have to restore your data at completion.

Fred Kaufman [TeamHP] CompuServe ID: [75162,2616]