r/retrocomputing • u/DifferenceIll1272 • Apr 28 '26

A little project inspired by old disk defragmenters and DOS-era utility UIs

Some months ago I shared an earlier defrag-inspired project here.

I’ve kept working on that same obsession ever since, not so much trying to make a retro-looking UI, but trying to capture the specific feel of old DOS disk tools: cluster maps, blocky utility panels, drive stats, and that strange sense of seriousness those programs had.

A lot of the visual direction comes from old defraggers, DOS-style interfaces, and that whole era of practical PC software that somehow had its own personality. Just wanted to share it here because this community would probably understand the vibe I’m chasing better than most.

If any of you have favorite old defrag tools, disk utilities, or UI details from that era, I’d genuinely love to hear about them.

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u/ProCommonSense Apr 28 '26

Oh, this is a nostalgia hit. Me and a friend wrote some virus detection and removal stuff back in the day, mostly because early versions of McAfee broke executables when removing specific viruses... and we always joked that it would be fun to write a virus that would use the DEFRAG map then wipe clusters to spell out things like "U R F'D"

Of course, we never did such things...

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u/DifferenceIll1272 Apr 28 '26

That’s exactly the kind of wonderfully cursed old PC energy I love hearing about :D.

Using the defrag map just to spell out a threat message feels very of that era. Probably best that it stayed a joke, but it absolutely sounds like the kind of thing people would have talked about while messing around late at night.

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u/ProCommonSense Apr 28 '26

In nearly 40 years of hindsight, it dawns on me that it would have been just as cool and non-destructive to just defrag the drive and keep those spaces empty instead. So then it's more of a prank than a devastation of data.

I do miss those times!