SFS and PFS won't work

[nicholas]

Which version of PFS is recommended today?

Pfs3aio from Toni Wilen.

[nicholas]

Well, it's no matter what filesystem I'm using until it's not FFS. If the partition is not vaildated it takes millions of years until a large partition is finished. I has PFS3 earlier, but it used a lot of space for metadata. OK, wouldn't be a problem anymore. Which version would better, standard PFS oder PFS direct SCSI? I thought on using SFS because it seems to be a standard now, at least MorphOS and AROS are using SFS.

Why should't I use HDInstTools? I was always using it. HDToolBox from 3.1 wouldn't be a very good choice, and I'm not planning to use 3.9. Is there another partitioning tool?

I read in another forum that a guy had the 80000008 problem on an A1200/060. He updated them and the problem was gone. So I'll try this, and it can't be bad to have newer versions.

Actually I can't add any more stuff because my A4000T setup looks like this. The system gets a new E-ATX case and it has to be modified for the Amiga. If anyone has the schematics of the ports board, that would be great.

Looks like my A3000 at the moment. :lol:

SFS across 68k, AROS, OS4 and MorphOS are incompatible forks for the most part. PFS3 is compatible in all its variants.

[RCtech]

Well, I'm not using HDToolbox anymore. It isn't even compatible to MO drive until you've patched it. The HDToolBox from 3.9, AROS and MorphOS is very complicated in my opinion.

HDInstTools has some problems with too big harddisks while partitioning.  A 300 GB drive with one partition is shown with about 7600 MiB, the  Cylinders section is distorted when the values are too big. The size  slider creates some weird results, but the size display is correct. The  drive info is also correct, I also made a bad block check and had one at  324.146.587.

One big difference from HDInstTools to any HDToolBox version is that it shows the partition layout, but you can't work with it. So it's difficult to  modify free areas of the drive. You can avoid problems if you're planning the drive from the beginning on. I'm always using 6 system partitions in the 4 GiB area:

1 - Workbench 3.1
2 - Workbench 3.1 Backup
3 - Workbench 3.9
4 - Workbench 3.9 Backup
5 - System
6 - Temporary

The first are easy, the System partition is an addon partition which are used by all partitions. This is useful for additional libraries, huge font collections and more. You just have to check in the startup-sequence if this partition exists, then you can assign or assign ADD these directories to your system. So on the boot partition just have to stay the important files you need, this saves space and the partitions can stay smaller. Workbench 3.1 and 3.9 can use different libraries by checking the system with the version command. Each partition is 682 MiB in size, so they're all below the 4 GiB border. The size useful because you can backup it easily to a CD or a 640 MB MO, here it is even bootable.

I'm always partitioning by cylinders. This needs a bit calculation, but it's safe. I now have all models of the Maxtor Altlas V here, and all have different cylinder/size values. By the way, I'm using the expressions MiB (Mebibyte) and GiB (Gibibyte) because its using base 2, not base 10 (MB, GB) like it's written on hard drives. These are the values:

Maxtor Atlas V 73.4 GB version

1 GiB = 7768 cylinders
4 GiB = 31072 cylinders
682 MiB = 5178 cylinders

Maxtor Atlas V 147 GB version

1 GiB = 17478 cylinders
4 GiB = 69912 cylinders
682 MiB = 11652 cylinders

Maxtor Atlas V 300 GB version

1 GiB = 6991 cylinders
4 GiB = 27946 cylinders
682 MiB = 4660 cylinders

So I'm using 6 partitions to 682 MiB. To match exactly the 4 GiB border, the 147 GB version can use 6 partitions without modifications. The 73.4 and 300 GB model need a 4 cylinder filling partition until the 4 GiB border is reached. The rest is easy - if  I want to create larger partitions after the 4 GiB border, I just have to multiply the size by the cylinder value for 1 GiB. So there's no need for any size sliders or everything, and the partitions are always exact the same size.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

When I first started using PFS a few years ago I really struggled with it.  Specifically, I had a hard time with some of the more technical documentation - needs a "PFS for dummies" guide.    But once I figured it out it's working great for me on both my main Amiga systems now, and I wouldn't use anything else.

Some tips:

• Use the latest version of PFS3-AIO from here:  http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3aio
  
• Also download the 53 archive from here:  http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/PFS3_53  (for the C: tools)
  
• Don't use the Amiga built-in disk format command, use the PFSFormat command line utility from the 53 archive.
• Don't use HDInstTools, use the latest version of HDToolbox from 3.9.  Well, you could use other tools, but would you use a rock to hammer in a nail?  Use the right tools for the job.  IMHO anything else and you're just going to make it harder for yourself.

Last, since I believe a picture is worth a thousand words, here's some screenshots from my system showing my settings.  Hope this helps!  

[mechy]

especially sfs should be avoided as it corrupts at random. the currently maintained filesystem is pfs3

This is total BS, i have been using sfs since it practically came out and in all these years i have never had this happen. and its not one case, i use it across more than 20 different amigas. The problem is people either don't follow the instructions setting it up or use cheap/flakey cf's usually. Setting maxtransfer right is manditory especially in the case of a600/1200 ide etc.

the original Pfs3 used to have a bug that was well known and blew up under certain situations, which i believe is fixed in the latest ones.I think the author fixed it.

hdinsttools is known to cause rdb problems yet people insist on using it still.
It does something odd to the rdb, and if u come along and try to use hdtoolbox on it afterward it can cause problems.

[itix]

This is total BS, i have been using sfs since it practically came out and in all these years i have never had this happen. and its not one case, i use it across more than 20 different amigas. The problem is people either don't follow the instructions setting it up or use cheap/flakey cf's usually.

Unfortunately SFS (AmigaOS version) has some bugs that cause self destruction sometimes. Ok, not self destruction but it corrupts itself and there are no repair tools. Only solution is taking a backup and reformatting partition and then copy back.

And of course remember 127GB size limit (in case you are using larger HDs).

Setting maxtransfer right is manditory especially in the case of a600/1200 ide etc.

Is it? Does it even have any effect?

[mechy]

Unfortunately SFS (AmigaOS version) has some bugs that cause self destruction sometimes. Ok, not self destruction but it corrupts itself and there are no repair tools. Only solution is taking a backup and reformatting partition and then copy back.

And of course remember 127GB size limit (in case you are using larger HDs).



Is it? Does it even have any effect?

Well funny with the load of machines i use, some run 24/7 i've not lost a single partition.. samsung ssd,sandisk cfs and regular drives, in 20 years of using it i have never had a partition loss caused by it, I have also sold many amigas pre-setup with it and talked at least a few hundred people thru setup and use in these years. I use drives from 50mb to 1TB,and yea i know of the 128gb partitions which is not a big deal.

SFSsalv works for sfs/00 partitions,not that i have ever used it.
I am not trying to sell anyone on it, i  just think i have put it to the test. Either i am incredibly lucky or the claims are unfounded.
I dont want to hijack the thread though.

[kolla]

When adding L:pfs_aio-handler to RDB, HDToolBox says version 18.0, but a version L:pfs_aio-handler says 18.5 - why?

By a slight error I used pfsformat on df0: instead of pf0:, with the result that df0: became unreadable of course, but no big deal. Bigger deal was that pfsformat then, since df0: was unreadable, decided to put Trashcan, Trashcan.info and a new Disk.info in my sys: instead. Well, wasn't that great.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

When adding L:pfs_aio-handler to RDB, HDToolBox says version 18.0, but a version L:pfs_aio-handler says 18.5 - why?

Haha.  Mine says the same.  No idea, but doesn't affect performance.  Maybe the author just didn't update a version string somewhere inside the file?  

[Thorham]

hdinsttools is known to cause rdb problems yet people insist on using it still.
It does something odd to the rdb, and if u come along and try to use hdtoolbox on it afterward it can cause problems.

Then don't use hdtoolbox :p

[paul1981]

I've used SFS for 10 years on my 060 A1200 with FastATAII, and it's been flawless.

If using PFS, you must use the pfs format tool like what Mike says. Read the instructions carefully, it's easy to use (I use PFS aio on my A600). It allows you to turn on or off long filenames and adjust the delete cache (.recycled hidden drawer on partition). SFS has the same, but '.deldir' IIRC. Hmm... Or is it the other way around? I only had 4 hours sleep last night, that's my excuse.

[nicholas]

I've used SFS for 10 years on my 060 A1200 with FastATAII, and it's been flawless.

If using PFS, you must use the pfs format tool like what Mike says. Read the instructions carefully, it's easy to use (I use PFS aio on my A600). It allows you to turn on or off long filenames and adjust the delete cache (.recycled hidden drawer on partition). SFS has the same, but '.deldir' IIRC. Hmm... Or is it the other way around? I only had 4 hours sleep last night, that's my excuse.

SFS is OK until you have a problem and it can fast become a nightmare. PFS3 doesn't have these problems do in that respect it's much better. The extra features and performance improvements are icing on the cake.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

SFS is OK until you have a problem and it can fast become a nightmare. PFS3 doesn't have these problems do in that respect it's much better. The extra features and performance improvements are icing on the cake.

One thing I will say about PFS, is does it have a recovery tool should anything go wrong?  Not that I've ever had anything go wrong, but I did try to use the recovery tool that comes in the 53 archive once, and it said it didn't work with the latest version of AIO.  Thoughts?

I only had 4  hours sleep last night, that's my excuse.

I left work at 3:30am last night...  you still have me beat!  

[wawrzon]

Usually you would have the pfs doctor or whatever its is called in your archive.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Usually you would have the pfs doctor or whatever its is called in your archive.

Yes.  Doesn't work with latest version of AIO.  I can dig up the error message later, but it was pretty straight-forward - basically "Does not support this version, blah blah", the one time I tried it.  

[wawrzon]

Yes.  Doesn't work with latest version of AIO.  I can dig up the error message later, but it was pretty straight-forward - basically "Does not support this version, blah blah", the one time I tried it.  

report to toni per mail or eab. he is the maintainer.