ZuluSCSI RP2040 for direct image of Hard Drivce

[dingebre]

New to this forum, but not new to Amiga, electronics, or writing code. I am also one of those who loves to read the manual, so if there is a FAQ, blog, Youtube, anything that I have missed in my search, please feel free to tell me to "read the manual," but please include a link

My goal is to image the hard drive in my A3000 to preserve data and software and then transfer it to an SD card to use with a ZuluSCSI RP2040 SCSI to SD adapter and in WinUAE. Seems simple enough and I've found some information such as on the Amiga Forever FAQ about how to make the image once the hard drive is connected to a PC. What I can't find is some tried and true method to actually connect my A3000 drive to a PC. SCSI cards for PCs seem to have been discontinued and I don't have a system running any older Windows OS, e.g.: Windows XP (I've seen some cards, like some from Adaptec, which are available but not supported by Adaptec anymore and there is no promise it will work in Windows 10 or 11). SCSI to USB adapters are ridiculously priced, but if that is what I have to do, I'll do it.

However... there seems to be another option that I have in hand, but am wary about diving in lest I destroy my A3000 HD in the process. The new ZuluSCSI RP2040 will directly image a hard drive to the SD card, see here:

https://github.com/ZuluSCSI/ZuluSCSI-firmware#scsi-initiator-mode

It looks to be straightforward, however, I've used those words before and then disaster struck.

Has anyone tried this on an Amiga hard drive or any SCSI hard drive? Is there a more detailed explanation on how to do this?

Thank you.

David

[dingebre]

Thank you Weed!

This was useful and did help clarify the process. My question now is more specific. Elsewhere in the FAQ under how to create HDF images of a hard drive, it says:

https://www.amigaforever.com/kb/15-113

• Connect the disk to the PC (follow the device-specific instructions, switching off the PC if necessary)
• Do NOT mount the Amiga disk assigning it a Windows drive letter or expect it to appear under the Computer folder, but rather make sure that the disk is listed in Disk Management (select Computer Management from the Windows Start menu, then expand the Storage folder on the left, and click on Disk Management)
• Select Disk Toolbox from the Tools menu of Amiga Forever
• In the Disk to Image tab, select the desired disk, then Create Image
• Make a backup copy of the disk image file, and archive it in a safe place

My question and confusion then, in light of the link you indicated, is does the first step in the above quote just mean a connection between the physical Amiga and the PC via Serial or ethernet, or does it mean physically removing the hard drive from the Amiga and installing it in the PC? If the former, how amazingly simple! But step two seems to indicate I do have to physically install the Amiga drive in the PC, which then poses a much different problem.

I think I understand that I can see and transfer files between the PC and Amiga with some combination of Amiga Forever, Amiga Explorer, and WinUAE through a serial connection or ethernet. I was wanting to create an actual image of the hard drive to make sure all the software and associated files, registrations, etc. were preserved. But I'm probably still missing something simple.

Thanks again.

David

[dingebre]

Thank you scuzzb94! You said something very interesting which jogged some dusty memories, "There is really no need to disk image." It's been so long since I've been deep into the Amiga OS and hardware and have been tainted by Windows insanely complex and overburdened operating systems. I had forgotten that Amiga software installations are (mostly) very straight forward, copy the program files, libraries, and devices, appropriate startup entries and it all should work fine.

I am developing a lot more hope in preserving my old software and data, at the same time looking forward to having some fun tinkering and learning/re-learning the amazing Amiga hardware and OS.

My understanding and way forward is becoming much clearer now, thank you.

In addition to your "diary" regarding backing up your 1500 (very informative, thanks), I also found this very helpful tutorial regarding Amiga Explorer.

https://www.everythingamiga.com/2017/05/amiga-explorer-pc-to-amiga-data-transfer-without-a-gotek-or-compact-flash.html

I think I will try Amiga Explorer first to get stuff moved over to the emulator and to an SD card for my ZuluSCSI.

David