Organize Yourself, Please!
Written: Nov 30 '99 (Updated Dec 01 '99)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast, easy, organized, everything about it
Cons: ADC's developer contacted me to say it's no longer necessary to uninstall previous versions before installing updates, so there are no cons that I know of in the current version
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| JMB623's Full Review: Advanced Disk Catalog |
I just love Advanced Disk Catalog (ADC). Why's that jmb623? Well, I am not a naturally organized individual, I just put things wherever it may be convenient or expedient at the time. What made me go out looking for something like ADC is that I had no idea where anything was on my library of Zip disks. To find something required inserting and opening each disk in PowerDesk98 (see my review in this category) for a looksee. If you have a lot of Zip disks, it can be a real time waster. I think I found this one because I reviewed it for http://www.pcwin.com months ago. Simply put, it was thrown into my lap. I had tried a freebie download specifically for Zip disks from Iomega, but it created a lot of GPF's, and a couple of "blue screens of death".
ADC is written totally in C++, doesn't use any database engines, its database is very compact, and it is very fast on the uptake. The program is fairly small (~1.6 Mb), the installation is quick and easy, unless you don't have version 4.70 or later of "comctl32.dll". If not you'll need to run the included "41comupd.exe" to update your system and restart.
The interface is a two-paned Explorer clone. In the left pane is a list of all your media, whether they be drives (including networked ones), floppies, opticals, zips, CD's, and whatever other media you may have. When you click on the media, the right pane shows every directory/folder on the media. Double-clicking a directory/folder in that pane shows all the files.
Creating the database is drop-dead easy. Click "edit" on the tool bar, click "add volume", and follow the dialog box instructions. It will ask what media, scan the disk, then present a dialog box in which you can add comments to files, describe the contents of the media, and give it a name. It also tells you the total space and remaining free space. To update contents, just insert the media, click on update on the toolbar. It rescans and updates the contents and freespace. It won't let you forget to save the changed database because like MS Office, it asks you if you want to save the changes if you try to close it.
If you need to find something, it will search the database by date, size, and category, search for files in archives, and for duplicates. It can generate reports, import descriptions from files like "file_id.diz", "files.bbs", "descript.ion, and extract descriptions from executables, .dll's, and MP3 files (i.e. ID3 tags).
Me, I just use it to keep track of what's on my Zip library, and it does such a superb job, that it has become indispensable to me. It has never crashed itself, or my OS, and continues to give me the semblance of organization. That's why I love it. The only organizational problem remaining is for me to remember to update the ones I delete from and add to, but at least I have the right tool available for the job. You can download it directly from the developer at www.elcomsoft.com (most likely to have the latest release), from www.pcwin.com, and probably from www.download.com. It's shareware, and if you decide to pay, its cost as of the most current release is $20.00 (8/18/99 version 1.30a). Worth every damn penny for the time saved.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
JMB623
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Member: Joel
Reviews written: 97
Trusted by: 209 members
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