Using real Amiga HD with WinUAE

[Snarph]

Is it possible to take my 3,5" HD from my Amiga 1200 and use it togheter with WinUAE in some way? Would really like to make a clone from this and have access to the same OS3.9 system I already have om my 1200.

Thanks.

[Louis Dias]

:rtfm:

or do a search here

but yes, connect it to a free IDE connector turn on your computer.  Run WINUAE and click "Add Harddrive", you may need a certain switch setting when launching WINUAE.

[amigadave]

I asked in another thread how I could have WinUAE recognize a new hard drive so I could partition and format it with an Amiga file system and use it exclusively for Amiga emulation.

I still have not figured out how to do it, but have progressed to assinging a volume letter and quick formatting the drive with NTFS, so WinUAE can see the drive.  I am also having trouble with my SUSE Linux 9.3 Professional DVD, as it locks up when I try to run the install and gives me the error message that the DVD can't be found, eventhough I have booted off it and started the install program from the DVD.

I was hoping that the SUSE DVD would have a formatting and partitioning program I could run at the beginning of the install process, where I could partition most of the new drive for Linux use and 4 or 5 2gb partitions reserved for Amiga use.

Anyone with experience about setting up such a hard drive the way I want to use it, please let me know here or PM me.

[InTheSand]

amigadave wrote:
...have progressed to assinging a volume letter and quick formatting the drive with NTFS, so WinUAE can see the drive...

As far as I know, you don't want Windows to see the drive... I think WinUAE will specifically look for an RDB or Amiga filesystem and won't allow direct access to the device unless either are found.

Is there any chance you can put the drive in a real Amiga so that you can at least partition it and write an RDB to it?

 - Ali

[Thomas]

I asked in another thread how I could have WinUAE recognize a new hard drive so I could partition and format it with an Amiga file system and use it exclusively for Amiga emulation.

I still have not figured out how to do it, but have progressed to assinging a volume letter and quick formatting the drive with NTFS, so WinUAE can see the drive.

That's the completely wrong way. As soon as Windows can see the drive, WinUAE refuses to use it. The drive has to be completely empty (no partition and no MBR) for WinUAE.

You can override this by running WinUAE with the -disableharddrivesafetycheck command line option.

Bye,
Thomas

[a3000]

Hi everyone, I also have a real amiga drive that Winuae can't/wont see. i have tried disablehardrive safetycheck, but keep getting No harddrive detected or RDB partition. I can boot up on a real amiga bring it to the PC & winuae can't see it. Is it the PC?

[Thomas]

Does your BIOS recognise the drive ?

Bye,
Thomas

[a3000]

I have my IDE drive in a external case wich connects via the usb. When its pugged in I get the bing bong sound, but its not visible if I look at it via Opus. If I plug a memory stick in I can see this listed as removable drive E.
Any further suggestions???

Thanks

[_Steve_]

This drive wouldn't have come from something like the Overdrive external case for the A1200 would it?

I have a 3.5" drive (420MB) in one of these that is not recognised when connecting to the IDE of an Amiga or PC either. It seems the Overdrive does something different when partitioning the drive, as you have to run a program " " in order to see the partitions during startup (in the startup-sequence you see "CC0: ")

[a3000]

No the case is not from a 1200. Its just a adapter that converts a IDE wide connection to a standard USB connection. I can take the drive & plug it into a Amiga & it will boot up.

[Thomas]

I think you didn't understand the question. He asked where the *drive* came from, not the case. If the drive comes from a non-standard HDD controller, it won't work with WinUAE, at least not automatically.

Bye,
Thomas

[a3000]

Hi, The drive is a ex PC Quantum Fireball, that has been formatted on a real Amiga. It was a quick format. Could this be the problem? I can try other drives western digital Maxtor. what is puzzling is that it used to work. I have downloaded some RDB program checkers from Aminet, incl yours Thomas. Maybe the RDB is lost or not in the right postion. Thanks

Cont: I have tried informer RDB to see what is on the drive & RDB block is OK. This was on a Amiga. They would both boot up so they are real thing.
Could it be that I am connecting via the USB port on the PC?, although it used to work. Iam using Amiga Forever & have downloaded the latest versions. Any further suggestions??? :-?

[treefell]

I have recently recovered my old Overdrive HD during a clearout and I'd like to be able to transfer my files off of it.
I'd love to be able to try and use it with WinUAE. Has anyone got any advice on how to get it to work?

[shirsch]

I'm fighting with this also.  Looks like support for the RDB partitioning scheme is broken in newer kernels.  I'm going to try an older 2.4 kernel and see if things work properly.

[Ami_GFX]

I not only use real Amiga drives in Winuae, I have also used Winuae to format, prep and install the system and software on drives for my Amigas. I have used USB, Firewire and SCSI external cases. You need at least OS3.5 for the harddisk toolkit to work right. You also need a fairly recent version of Winuae. I recently took an old 3.2 gb laptop hard drive, put it in a USB case, started Winuae from a command window with the [disable saftey check] bypass switch so it would regognize the drive, partitioned it and formated it in OS 3.5,restarted winuae with the now RDB Amiga drive as the hard disk and 3.1 install adfs loaded int the virtual floppy drives, installed system 3.1,ejected the virtual floppies, rebooted to the Amiga drive with a fresh 3.1 install to check things out and then added a couple of Winaue hdf volumes to the hard drive list, rebooted again and copied a lot of software onto the hard drive from the virtual volumes and then installed it in my A4000D and booted it. It is a lot less tedious than swapping floppies. There is also a function in Winuae to directly image Amiga drives and this is fantastic for backing up Amiga drives and then you can use these images to set up a winuae emulation of your real Amiga.