DiskZIP 2019.1 Review

The new version of DiskZIP is here, and it promises more features and benefits than before.

This is a placeholder for my upcoming review.

Please post here with any questions you may have while I work on my review.

 

Folks, sorry it took me so long to get back to you here - the hard working team at DiskZIP advised me to hold my horses, as they're in the middle of another, VERY EXCITING update!

While I'll have to hold this review until they green-light it, they did give me permission to share their latest innovation with you all here - DiskZIP Resident!

DiskZIP Resident is the fourth and newest transparent disk compression application in the DiskZIP package. A set it and forget it application to accelerate/compress your disk, seamlessly, and perpetually.

Remember how NTFS supported automatic compression for new and updated files in folders marked with the NTFS compression attribute? Microsoft forgot that for Windows 10’s new compression methods. Until DiskZIP Resident!

DiskZIP Resident:

• Sits in your system tray and may be closed any time.
  
• Performs automatic background compression of new and updated files on your system using your desired compression algorithm.
  
• Allows you to define any number of file type and folder exclusions against compression, including built-in recommended exclusions.
  
• Displays helpful compression statistics on space saved all time, and in your current session.
  
• Features adjustable compression priority.

Please install DiskZIP 2019 first and then extract the attached archive, overwriting the previous copy of the file. You may then invoke DiskZIP Resident as follows:

“C:\Program Files (x86)\DiskZIP Computing, Inc\DiskZIP 2019\Applications\DiskZIP Online\pDoubleDecker.exe” resident

Please PM me for the archive password - the company has requested that I keep a tight lid on distribution for now. Please note that it is really a 7ZIP archive, which you may extract with DiskZIP 2019 (despite the extension being ZIP, to allow for the forum upload here).

The company assures me that they have extensively tested this new product (in fact, it was due for inclusion in the original release of DiskZIP 2019, but didn't make the cutoff), and there are no known issues as of this writing. However, it IS a beta, so please exercise caution!

I myself will be commencing my own testing as of this writing - the same time as you all. I commend the company for making the beta available to us all at this stage.

Here are the intentional limitations in this beta release:

• 32-bit only (still runs on 64-bit platforms with file system redirection disabling).
• Processes drive C: only.
• Not available as a service, but as an executable which needs to be manually (or automatically) started at each logon.

I imagine they will continue to refine the product until its final inclusion in DiskZIP 2019 (or DiskZIP 2020?) so please share all your feedback with us here, publicly or privately!

 

I use and installed 7zip a much smaller package to use and so far I have no issue with it.

 

Common misconception. This is transparent disk compression, not manual file compression. Please see my review for their earlier version to clear this up:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/diskzip-review-finished.815511/

 

Common misconception: Windows also has this feature without having to buy another one. I don't advise using compressions as that will add more problem should it fail to work correctly. Especially if you your data is important-just get larger HDD to archive the data to retrieve it instead. Compressing isn't going to improve speed actually it makes it work harder to uncompress and compress it again to use the data. Which sooner or later will lead to data failure. A uncompressed drive will have a better recovery outcome should data restoring be needed. That's my review of drive Compression software.

 

Ditto! It only has to do more work to uncompress the files it compressed before upon access. I wouldn't touch such snake oil even if you paid me.

 

Windows does not have this feature at all, at least not if you want to compress more than 10% of your disk, or do it without rendering your PC unbootable. See here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/diskzip-review-finished.815511/page-2 - Section: 3. In Use - DiskZIP Online, Approximating with Built-In Windows Tools.

Moreover, compression does improve speed, as has been proven with benchmark testing on real-world games. See here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/diskzip-review-finished.815511/ - Section: Here are official DiskZIP results on an SSD

The results vary by compression type and the type of hardware compression is running on. In general, if you have an HDD, you want the strongest algorithms, and if you have an SSD, you want the fastest algorithms. Even if you have plenty of free disk space, its hard to insist that you'd prefer a slower PC, especially when DiskZIP has been fully optimized inside out to make your PC measurably faster.

Last but not least, compression will not lead to data failure on its own, just because data is compressed. That's like saying a ZIP file will eventually get corrupted sitting around, just because its compressed. Compression may certainly expose underlying errors with hardware, but even that may be a blessing in disguise, protecting you from a lemon that was bound to fail sooner or later.

I know a lot of the old DOS disk compression products have a bad reputation - Microsoft's DoubleSpace actually had data corruption bugs, for example. AddStor's SuperStor pro-actively rendered disks unbootable when it was used with anti-virus software.

All this is stuff from nearly three decades ago - back when PC software was a toddler at best, barely crawling on all fours. Companies have learned from those mistakes. The world has long moved on from the antique days of buggy MS-DOS and OS/2 system software.

 

I understand what you're trying to say. ( So, a little of this is tongue in cheek, but... ) have you been reading other threads in this Windows forum?

 

Not gonna sit here and argue with you. If you believe it is beneficial, feel free to use it, as I mentioned, I would never put this kind of junk on my laptop, my friends' or my family's computers.

Even if it may be faster in synthetic benchmarks, that's because the file size is actually smaller after being compressed but in real world scenarios, it takes more time as it needs to uncompress whatever it compressed in the first place. It takes no genius to figure this out. Common sense!!!

Aside from the fact that it is actually slower in real life workloads, it can cause data loss. I personally know a few people who lost all their data with such tools.

I'm outta here. You enjoy your compression tool d00d.

 

Wouldn't such a program also put unnecessary wear and tear on a solid state drive?

 

Considering they don't have moving parts probably not but that is why Windows 7 and higher had the TRIM to manage drive space. But as with anything all electrical hardware wear out from usage just that with a SSD when it fails there is no recovery options.

 

Thanks for your feedback. I really like how you are honest with your point of view, and make no excuses for it.

If you check the links I shared above, you will find that the benchmarks I shared are real world results with AAA real world games, they're not synthetic benchmarks at all. I didn't even bother posting synthetic benchmarks, because the results look fake, even when they're not, because of the acceleration effect induced by the disk compression.

Here is the formula that drives the acceleration process:

Time to read raw, uncompressed data > Time to read compact data + Time to extract in memory

There isn't any magic or snake oil involved in this. Even back in the days of Windows 3.11 with Stac Electronic's Stacker disk compression, Windows 3.11 booted up in 21 seconds on a compressed Stacker drive, instead of the 23 seconds it took to boot on an identical disk when uncompressed. That's on a 33MHz 386, if I recall correctly. It may still be possible to find the original PC/Computing article via a Google search, they have scanned in almost all magazines back from that era at the dawn of modern computing, and indexed them for text search.

It follows logically that modern CPUs which are 1,000 times faster would be able to retain this performance lead, especially now that they are multi-core, and at any given time you have idle cores sitting around doing nothing. In a sense, DiskZIP is using your idle processing power to accelerate your PC.

You are absolutely correct that nothing comes for free. You will still be paying for DiskZIP's read acceleration with the time you spend compressing your disk. I like to do this overnight using DiskZIP Offline, every other week or so, to pick up the slack from all recent Windows Updates and all the software I've uninstalled/newly installed.

Their new tool - which is the informal topic of this thread above - promises to eliminate even this last kludge, by performing the acceleration at all times in the background. That's quite a leap, and if executed well, would be the next natural step in the evolution of this product.

Last but not least - are you sure your friends who lost data were using DiskZIP? Or did they lose data back in the days of MS-DOS and the inherently unstable legacy tools of that era? As I wrote in the opening of my original review:

"Many of the old timers I alluded to at the start of this section have had strongly negative experiences with transparent disk compression in the 90s. For as long as I have been using the product (almost two years now), I have not had any issues with data loss or corruption."

It has now been three years for me and counting.

 

I also have to say that the DiskZip website is kind of deceptive. A 28 GB capacity disk doesn't magically turn into 80 GB.



Also, @ msintle - are you being compensated by the company, either monetarily or with free copies of the software? If so, you need to state that up front, especially because your "review" reads like marketing copy.

 

I am not affiliated with DiskZIP in any way, other than being a very happy and very loyal customer. Happy and loyal to the extent that even though I am not making any money off of DiskZIP whatsoever, I am spending my own time here, trying to make a positive contribution with my reviews and writing.

For the disk growth, I agree that is the most gimmicky part of the product. Please see a detailed description of the feature here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/diskzip-review-finished.815511/page-3 - Section: "Tune: This is new and interesting, if not exactly useful."

Essentially, in the screenshot they shared, the average compression ratio of the disk appears to be 2.8:1, since the disk has grown by 2.8 times over the uncompressed size.

Their driver "projects" this growth in disk capacity. If you notice, used disk space has "grown" as well, because of how the driver works (although the used disk space is in reality the same). You can customize this projected disk capacity growth, or disable it altogether.

What this is useful is if you are having to install or copy files, which *would* fit with compression, but Windows doesn't know that. So you project a larger disk capacity, to get through software checks. So far so good...

...BUT this mechanism breaks down unless you are using NTFS compression (with DiskZIP Online), because none of the other DiskZIP compression methods work on-the-fly. DiskZIP disables NTFS compression by default, because it is the worst performing algorithm - not only in terms of space, but also speed. NTFS compression will save you just a little bit of disk space, and cost you a ton of speed - very anathema to the entire DiskZIP premise. They know this, so they have disabled NTFS compression by default.

So *if* you enabled NTFS compression (taking a HUGE and unnecessary performance hit) and *if* you were going to install/copy stuff that wouldn't fit on your disk without compression, *then* this gimmicky feature could be considered useful.

Of course, that may all change with the new DiskZIP Resident beta on this thread. DiskZIP Resident performs non-NTFS compression on-the-fly, so it would actually make sense to project a bigger disk for more than just eye candy.

 

You will not convince me no matter what you say. Sorry. This just w0n't enter my brain.

My friends who lost their data were not using DiskZip but similar compression Tools.

It is very obvious that you are paid by the company to try to market their best next thing since sliced bread, good luck on that. It won't work with the intelligence of enthusiasts like us in the forum.

Please don't quote me or mention me again I have no interest in replying to you.

 

To clarify, this is not a response to Ultra Male, and none of my posts are meant to be a reflection on his intelligence. My response is to the thread and the forum at large, where people of intelligence certainly exist, and will be able to look beyond the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) that has unfortunately been attached to this thread.

DiskZIP is patent pending technology and I am not aware of any "similar compression tools", which in all likelihood don't yet exist for modern Windows versions at all.

Supposing they do, it would be most illogical to project the shortcomings of one product upon another; but I understand people have strong opinions, and they deserve full respect for sticking to their beliefs. Anything else would be an invasion of rights, of privacy.

On that note, I would love to find and try any alternative disk compression software, as I am really into this kind of thing, as readers have surely noticed.

Please see my post above for an explanation of my relationship with DiskZIP.