Organization: Temple University -- Computer Services
X-Acknowledge-To: <V4039@vm.temple.edu>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.vm-util
Date:         Wed, 9 Sep 1992 09:15:40 EDT
From:         Stan Horwitz <V4039@VM.TEMPLE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Temp disk space.
              9 Sep 1992 09:35:44 EDT from
              <CCBW%MUSICA@TSCC.MACARTHUR.UWS.EDU.AU>

On Wed, 9 Sep 1992 09:35:44 EDT Brian Watson said:
>Hi,
>   We have a user here who is using lots of disk space and uses all that
>we give him.  Because of this, he has no space left on his RW disks for
>SPSSX to write it's work files.  We tried to fix this by showing him how
>to define a temp disk but his jobs kept getting bigger and he did not
>want to wait for 70 cyls of 3380 to format each time he logged on.  I
>then suggested that he #CP DISC instead of logging off.  He is satisfied
>for now but I see this as a kludge.  Has anyone any solutions to this
>problem?

Yikes! In my opinion,  CP DISC should never ever be used  for holding data on
a temp disk for any long period of  time. Maybe its okay if the user needs to
step out  for lunch or  a quick meeting, but  its very dangerous.  Using this
method for  data storage  is like  playing Russian  Roulette. If  your system
should crash  for any  reason, or  you need  to bring  it down  for scheduled
maintanance, this  person's files  will be lost  forever. The  probabliity of
data being lost  this way is very  high. You are combining  the likelihood of
your system  crashing with the  likelihood of just  a DASD crash.  Giving out
this suggestion  can make  you a  prime target  for this  user's ire  if your
system crashes. Disconnecting  also prevents other users on  your system from
making use of the  temp disk space which seems very  inconsiderate to me. The
last time I heard,  our system's temp disk space was  over 1000 cylinders and
our user  are still quick  to complain when they  can't get temp  disk space.

Here are a few alternatives:

1)  Give the user  a second permanent minidisk of perhaps  100 cylinders on  a
    temporary basis  for the  duration of  this project?  This way,  the temp
    disk  won't be  needed and  the  risk at  data loss  is greatly  reduced.

2)  Does the user use efficient coding  in his/her SPSS programs? You or your
    site's SPSS expert  should review this person's programs to  be sure they
    are as efficient  as possible. Also, are  the input files in  the form of
    SPSS  compressed files?  Putting them  in  this form  may save  a lot  of
    disk space and it will make programming a lot easier for the user.

    In  the long  run, the  responsibility for  securing any  data ultimately
    belongs to  its owner.  The data must  be kept on  a secure  and reliable
    medium if  it is needed later  and this is the  user's responsibility. If
    the previous suggestions aren't helpful, the user will simply have to put
    his/her temp  disk files  on magnetic  tape for long  term storage.  If a
    file archiving utility such as VMArchive  is available for temp disk file
    management, then  show the user how  to use it.  If not, h the  user will
    simply have to take the time to write his/her temp disk files out to tape
    manually. This is not the most convenient  thing to do, but it sure beats
    losing valuable data. It  also allows your system to be  used in the most
    equitable way.

Either way, if I  were you, I would be sure to  contact that user immediately
to explain that CP DISC is not a good  idea to retain data on a temp disk for
any length of time.

Stan Horwitz, Consultant    | Bitnet           | Internet
Temple University           | V4039@TEMPLEVM   | V4039@VM.TEMPLE.EDU
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU