Materials Used:
LimeWire 4.3.0b Pro
Mac OS 10.3.7
Mac G4 400 MHz
896 MB SDRAM
Netgear 834 modem-router
ADSL 256/64

I want to be able to optimise the volume that has LimeWire's "Incomplete" folder periodically.

I also want to be able to backup the volume, reformat it and restore it from the backup from time to time.

Problems with LimeWire have been the same after both of these in the past, which is why they are combined in this thread.

In another thread I just read something that makes me revisit these issues.

I now use LimeWire Pro 4.3.0b, but with various older versions of LimeWire this did not work on one occasion and something funny that also didn't work happened on two other occasions.

After a backup and restore of my entire Incomplete folder, LimeWire rejected all my partially downloaded files as though they were invalid organ transplants. It left them in the Incomplete folder but just ignored them. It made a new extra file of zero bytes in size for each of them in the same folder. It started each download again from scratch using the new file only.

The same thing also happened twice after not a backup and restore but disc optimisation using Norton Speed Disk. On two occasions separated by some months I ran Speed disc on the partition with the Incomplete folder and got the same behaviour from LimeWire.

I presumed LimeWire was associating partial downloads with blocks and sectors on my hard disc in some arcane way, which would account for the problem with backup & restore and with disc optimisation. I never investigated the problem further until reading that Lord of the Rings has done a successful backup and restore, presumably recently. Now I am wondering whether to chance it again.

This is important not just because I am a disc optimisation compulsion freak, but also because I want to see if this is another factor in LimeWire's performance. Surely, the more partial files one has, the more one can expect disc fragmentation. I always have plenty.

Also, I cannot recall hearing of any software that is not slowed down by disc fragmentation. LimeWire is unlikely to be an exception. This might not make a significant difference, but optimisation shouldn't make LimeWire any slower.

The optimisation utility I used both times, Speed Disk is owned by a company that now produces popular Windows versions of its software and has become fat and lazy. It has lots of bugs and also often produces another problem: after optimisation some disc images that mounted before become unmountable.

Maybe optimisation without LimeWire woes is possible only with other software (?). I also have Drive 10 v1.1.5 but have seldom used it because it is so slow in comparison. I also have iDefrag 1.0.4 but have yet to try it. Before I try any more on LimeWire's partial files, has anyone else had experience that might save me another debacle?

I haven't been game to try another optimisation on that volume for many months now, although the new versions of LimeWire may be able to cope.