| ||||||
Review: FileStorm ProReviewed By: Kirk Hiner Review Computer: 867MHz G4, 640MB RAM, ATI RADEON 8500, Mac OS X v10.2.5 Review Date: May 18, 2003
FileStorm Pro is an installer and disk image creator. It is, therefore, one of those utilities I occasionally see mentioned on my daily excursion to VersionTracker only to pass right by without a second thought. After all, surely today's the day VersionTracker will link to a FireWorks MX upgrade that'll stop the program from crashing every single time I launch it, right? Right?! Today?! Sadly, no, so I downloaded a review copy of FileStorm Pro. I read a bit more about the program...did a little research. I visited the company site and glanced through the feature set and press releases. Then, I thought, here's a utility I'll never need. I installed the program, which was kind of an odd process. To install the program itself, I simply had to drag the application from the disk image to my hard drive. The extras that come with it, however, actually have a full installer and are placed in a completely different area of your hard drive than the actual FileStorm Pro application. This is not a big deal, and certainly nothing that'll lower my review of FileStorm Pro, I just found it odd. After some initial confusion with getting the product registered (coupon code vs. registration number mix-up...my fault; upgrading from the demo version is actually a very smooth process), I started poking around for the PDF manual. Not with the application. Okay. Not with the extras. All right, I must have missed it on the install. Nope. Not on the disk image. Perhaps on the website? No. So, I e-mailed MindVision. Ends up, there is no PDF manual. There's a FAQ online that answers some questions, and there are instructions in the Help menu. Should I further my complaint about this? I hate Apple's Help menu. It's slow, it's a pain to navigate, and it's more clutter on my screen. The only thing worse than having to print off a PDF, I've decided, is not having a PDF to print off.  Luckily, FileStorm Pro doesn't really require a PDF. After only a few minutes of poking around through the help file, I'd created my first disk image. That simple. Pretty snazzy, too. Here's the process.
That's it. Now, there's more you can do in there. Using a slider in the Inspector menu, you can resize the file icons that appear in the image. You can also place them wherever you want by simply dragging them around in the window. The coolest feature, however, is the ability to add a background image. Again, using the Inspector, you simply select an image from your hard drive and it's dropped into place. You can then resize and reposition the icons on the disk image to accommodate the new design.  Now, why do this? What's the importance? Well, I don't need to tell software developers how this can be extremely helpful. I'm currently developing a computer game using the Coldstone game engine, as detailed in my Making the Game column here at Applelinks, and there's little doubt that I'll be using FileStorm Pro when it comes time to create the installer (more on that below). But FileStorm Pro's abilities can be put to much more common tasks. For instance, I recently dumped a couple iMovie MPGs I'd filmed onto a CD to send to my friend in Wales. It would've looked much cooler had I been able to use a photo of the trip as a background image. The same can be said for corporations who put promotional materials onto CD to give a client. Why not incorporate the company logo or some other image to round out the package? This is so simple with FileStorm Pro that even the six figure execs could do it instead of having to rely on their secretaries to do the real work again. I was a secretary myself for two years, so I'm allowed to call them that. FileStorm also provides some control over how the disk image behaves. For instance you can assign a password to it or set it to open automatically after mounting. Oh, and it's AppleScript compatible. Always a plus.  What's really cool is that all the features I've described above are included in the "light" version of FileStorm which sells for only $19.95. What distinguishes the Pro version from this is the ability to create installers. Is this worth the additional $50? Again, it's a matter of convenience. Apple provides the PackageMaker utility with their Developer Tools, so it would seem that most developers would already have a free program with which they can create installers. Know what? They also include AppleWorks, but that doesn't mean some people won't pay to get Microsoft Office. FileStorm Pro makes the process of creating installers as simple as it makes the process of creating disk images. You simply open the project, get your files in place, then customize it with the Inspector. You can select custom icons and a custom background (custom installer icon, too), assign the minimum OS, set authentication privileges, and more. You can even have FileStorm Pro create an uninstaller. It's all done with checkboxes. The difference in working with FileStorm Pro versus using Apple's PackageMaker is like the difference between taking a multiple choice test versus an essay exam. Whether you've studied diligently or not, the multiple choice test is just easier and lets you get out faster.
Now, the simplicity of FileStorm Pro is not for everyone. Just as there are still people out there who hard code websites, there will be people who prefer to use Disk Copy, Terminal and PackageMaker to create their disk images and installers. Nothing at all wrong with that. For those of us who'd rather just get this process overwith quickly and easy so we can move on to the next project, FileStorm Pro is an excellent–albeit poorly documented–solution.
 [an error occurred while processing this directive] |
. |
Cool Mac Gear• iPod 1G-2G • iPod 3G • iPod 4G • iPod Mini • PowerBook-iBook • Keyboard Skins • Garageband
| ||||
