This is one of the most powerful sections in the output area of Disk Triage. While the Tree and Graph views deal with the output on a directory by directory level - the analysis views deal with the output as a whole. It provides a variety of ways for the user to look at the gathered data.
Most of the analysis catagories have two graphs and a list. The first graph shows the data from the point of the file size and the second graph shows the data from the point of the number of files. The list shows both the file size and number data at the same time.
Note that all Graphs now have a button bar on the left hand side that allows further customization of the graph.
The following analysis catagories are availabe in Disk Triage:
Size
This section shows you the breakdown by size catagory. Here the user can view the total file size or the total number of files in each catagory. So as the graphs in the By Size and By Files sections below show - you can easily see that although most of the size of the files in the sizing fall in the 512Kb to 4Mb catagories - over 60% of the file fall in the 1KB to 32KB range. These catagories are customizable - on the Analysis Options screen.
Attibute
This section shows you the breakdown by file attribute. Since the Archive attribute is so commonly set, it tends to skew the graph results. To this end the List (or the legend on the graphs) may provide a better picture of the attribute break down.
Size of File Name
This section shows you the breakdown by size of the file name. Here the user can view how their files break down by the length of the file names. These catagories are customizable - on the Analysis Options screen.
Create / Write / Access Date
These sections show you the breakdown by the various file dates. These views can quickly help a user determine in what age catagories their files lie in. The user can view this information by the type of date that is important to him/her. It should be noted that some programs/companies delibertly modify the dates to record other information. In these cases Disk Triage simply records any date it flags as invalid and stores it in the 'Unknown' catagory. The user should also note that the Access Date/Time is not terribly reliable in Windows - as it can easily be changed just by viewing the files in explorer. These catagories are customizable - on the Analysis Options screen.
Time
The time section shows you the breakdown by the time of day the files were created, modified and accessed. Note the checkbox at the top of the graph. This allows you to choose which times will be displayed in the graph. Under Win 95/98/Me the Access time is not selected as these operating systems to do not record that information.
Type
This section is used to showing the user how the files break down into the registered file types. The option to gather this information must be checked on the Basic tab of the main interface. This makes it very simple for the user to tell what types of files make up his/her disk. It should be noted that unless you really want to look at Registered File type information - you should use the Extension catagory. It is faster - and does not vary by machine. As Registered Windows file types can vary from machine to machine depending on which software you have installed on that machine.
Extension
This section is used to showing the user how the files break down into the different file extensions. The option to gather this information must be checked on the Basic tab of the main interface. This is yet another very useful way of looking at your disk space. This makes it very simple for the user to tell what types of files make up his/her disk. An example of this might be where a LAN admin runs the Analysis Sizing against a drive on the server, then looks at this page to discover that the largest file extension is MP3s. This should then send a flag off with that administrator that the drive needs further checking to remove all the users space hogging MP3s from the network drive.
Owner
This section shows the user how much space/files that each user is using in the analyzed directory structure. The option to gather this information must be checked on the Basic tab of the main interface. This is very handy where you may have shared directories (like project directories) and you need to know which users are using up the space. It can also be used to help in costing out hard drive space to different departments in large organizations.
It should be noted that the owner name for NTFS directories/files is fully qualified with Domains. Directories and Files under Novell Netware Servers will have just the User name.
Top 10
This section shows the user a list of the 'Top X' largest and oldest files in the analyzed directory. The option to gather this information must be checked on the Basic tab of the main interface. Even though the tab says Top 10 - the number of entries is configurable on the Analysis Options tab. You can make the list as large as you want.