Total folders & file space problem (affecting Infotip info)

Hello everyone.

I'm hoping someone can help me with an issue that's, quite honestly, a pain in the rear end. That said, maybe this "issue" is just the way things are supposed to work, too. I really don't know. Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can offer.

As most Dopus users know, you can view a file or folder's total size via the Infotip balloon while hovering your cursor over it. However, in my case, the file or folder size information won't appear in the Infotip until Dopus has completed processing the total size of the current location. What's more, if I open a new folder - and then go back to my original folder - Dopus must re-calculate the total size of that location again! I'm able to see this due to the info I've added to my Status Bar (I can see the current folder size continuously increasing until it's done).

Just to be clear (since I'm not always good at describing these things), here's an example:

  1. I open Dopus and navigate to the "C:\Windows" directory.
  2. I hover my cursor over the "System32" folder to view its total size via the Infotip balloon. However, I'm not able to see the folder size since Dopus hasn't yet processed the total size of the "Windows" directory.
  3. Once Dopus has calculated the size of the "Windows" directory, I'm finally able to see the total size of the "System32" folder via Infotip.

Here's the part that gets on my nerves a bit...

  1. If I open another folder within the "Windows" directory - such as the "System32" folder I mentioned earlier - and then immediately navigate back to the "Windows" folder, I must wait once again for Dopus to calculate the total size of the "Windows" folder before I can view file or folder sizes via Infotip.

So - with that info in mind:

Why does Dopus have to re-calculate the total folder size every time I navigate back to the same folder? There are times when I have to wait 5 to 10 seconds for Dopus to calculate the total size of the current location (depending on size) just so I can view the Infotip data for other directories.

I don't understand why Dopus can't save some of that data (in a cache or something) to save time when a user navigates back to a previously opened folder. The Infotip data is helpful when I'm doing some cleaning or rearranging stuff from one drive to another. In my case, though, it's not as quick as one would expect since I'm continuously waiting for Dopus to calculate the currently opened folder's size.

Am I misunderstanding something related to how Windows - or the NTFS file system - works with Dopus that could be causing this delay (or recalculation) every time? Admittedly, I know next to nothing about these types of problems.

Have I messed with a Dopus setting that's causing this issue?

Given my system specs, one would think Dopus would fly on my machine - but it doesn't...

Alienware M15x Notebook

  • Windows 7 Home Premium x64
  • Intel Core i5 Processor
  • Samsung 128 GB SSD Drive
  • 6GB DDR3 Ram
  • Dopus v9.5.5.0.3889 x64
  • Etc., etc., etc., blah, blah, blah :slight_smile:

Thanks for any advice you can offer and for your help with identifying any settings I may have messed up along the way. I also apologize for the long post.

See Cached folder sizes at the bottom of the FAQ on folder size calculation.

leo-

As usual, you're the best! Thanks for the info. Before I posted, I did several searches of the forum but I guess I wasn't using the right wording.

As a follow-up question, what's keeping Dopus from calculating folder sizes more quickly? My SSD drive flies and I guess I'm getting a bit spoiled with the increased performance. :slight_smile: It just seems like Dopus could (should) be able to access that data more quickly.

Keep in mind, I'm coming at this from an, admittedly, uneducated perspective.

You're an invaluable resource, leo. Thank you.

Calculating folder sizes involves reading in the directory listing (and all those below it), which is just slow on Windows.

[quote="uradodah"]leo-

As usual, you're the best! Thanks for the info. Before I posted, I did several searches of the forum but I guess I wasn't using the right wording.

As a follow-up question, what's keeping Dopus from calculating folder sizes more quickly? My SSD drive flies and I guess I'm getting a bit spoiled with the increased performance. :slight_smile: It just seems like Dopus could (should) be able to access that data more quickly.

Keep in mind, I'm coming at this from an, admittedly, uneducated perspective.

You're an invaluable resource, leo. Thank you.[/quote]
leo-

Sorry for the additional post. I forgot to ask a couple questions regarding the info I read in the FAQ link you provided.

  1. If edit my Preferences to turn off the option to calculate folder sizes automatically, would I still be able to view file and folder sizes via Infotip? I prefer to use the "List" view in Dopus and, therefore, can only see file and folder sizes via Infotip or in my Status Bar. If I could turn off the automatic calculation option and still see sizes via Infotip, maybe that would help with my issue.

  2. Given the fact that I use the "List" view over 90% of the time, is the "GetSizes" command useless to me while using that view? I've tried selecting several folders and used the "GetSizes" command but didn't see any info provided to me. I could tell Dopus did something but I just couldn't see where it provided the total size of the folders. I was expecting a pop-up screen containing the info (or some other type of notification).

Do I have to use the "Details" view in order to make use of the "GetSizes" command?

Thanks again.

Yes, InfoTips will still trigger size calculation (unless the infotip is edited to not display folder sizes, of course).

(Seems a strange question when you could've just toggled the checkbox and hovered over a folder to see what was in its infotip. :slight_smile:)

Running GetSizes in List mode isn't completely useless since the size of all items and all selected items are shown on the status bar (unless you've edited your status bar and removed them, or turned off the status bar completely, of course).

Running GetSizes also caches the information (until you change folders) meaning you may want to run it before using infotips so you can kick-off the calculation for all folders in the background instead of having to wait for each folder's size to be calculated when you first hover over it.

Other than the status bar and infotips, there's nowhere else I can think of that item sizes are displayed in List mode.

I'm using the status bar mostly to compare sizes of various selections between two folders. I set up a toolbar button and hotkey (F8) to do a GetSizes NODESELECT so I can select a bunch of files and folders and then hit F8 and the status bar shows the total bytes of everything selected.

I made a program suggestion to the developers for adding an option to DO so that one could "Calculate folder size on selection." At first I didn't think I would need it much, but now, I'm tired of hitting F8 all the time and I just want it done automatically as I'm selecting the folders. The idea is essentially a compromise between Auto calculating everything in the folder or having to hit a hot key to do GetSizes NoDeselect or using tips which only works with one folder at a time.

One can read my suggestion here:

If someone thinks this suggestion is beneficial, consider making a "program suggestion" request at:
gpsoft.com.au/Support.html
to add that as a feature.