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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: tonyvdb on March 11, 2006, 08:09:57 PM

Title: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 11, 2006, 08:09:57 PM
How do I go about getting the SFS instaled on a amiga SCSI drive thats larger then 4 gig? I have OS3.5 installed
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: amigagr on March 11, 2006, 08:43:35 PM
sfs (http://strohmayer.org/sfs/files/SFS_1.254_68k.lha)
first backup the os and any other files in other partitions you have.(if you want to use it in other partitions  of course.) copy file SmartFileSystem in L: dir. run hdtoolbox select the hard disk click partition drive and then click add/update. there you click add new... and select the file from L:. add as identifier 0x535465300. click ok and select the desired partiton. click change select SFS\00 as filesystem and add 512 block size. click ok. click save. reboot and boot with the emergency disk or install3.1 or workbench3.1 to format the drive. do a standard format not quick. copy files back. you done it.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 11, 2006, 09:01:40 PM
Ok thanks,
I tried that and where it lets me enter the "identifire" when I enter 0x535465300 it wont let me place that many charictures in the box it stops me at 10 and I need 11 to do that :-?
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: amigagr on March 11, 2006, 09:05:36 PM
remove the sfs and do it again. must work ok from the start though... did you get the right sfs 1.254 version?
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 11, 2006, 09:09:04 PM
I beleave so... I also went and installed the update thats available. v2.3
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: amigagr on March 11, 2006, 09:11:18 PM
no don't do it, it's not compete yet, lots of bugs
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 11, 2006, 09:14:37 PM
Ok thanks I will revert back to the other one
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: Thomas on March 11, 2006, 09:46:14 PM
Quote
I tried that and where it lets me enter the "identifire" when I enter 0x535465300 it wont let me place that many charictures in the box it stops me at 10 and I need 11 to do that


It should be 0x53465300, exactly 10 characters:

0x = sign that hexadecimal digits follow
53 hexadecimal ASCII code for "S"
46 hexadecimal ASCII code for "F"
53 hexadecimal ASCII code for "S"
00 null character

Bye,
Thomas
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 11, 2006, 10:20:24 PM
Ok, I have hooked up my second SCSI drive to the Cyberstorm, did a low level format of it and did the SFS install as described above. I have placed several partitions on that drive but when I rebot the drived do not show up on my Workbench screen? but when I go into my SCSI toolbox it is there and all the partitions are there. What did I do wrong?
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: Piru on March 11, 2006, 10:31:10 PM
Forgot to tick 'Mount' for the partitions?

Forgot to quickformat the partitions?

Using conflicting devicenames for the partitions? (There can be only one DH0 for example. I often prefix the devicenames on different disks with Q, Z or S for example)
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 11, 2006, 10:37:30 PM
OOPS! I guess a person has to do a cold reset of the Amiga I was doing soft resets My bad. It worked after I shutdow and restarted. :roll:
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 11, 2006, 11:36:20 PM
Hmmmm...It still will not let me format any partitions above the 4 gig limit? I can see the partitions on my workbench but it won't finnish formating the partition above 4gig it stops about 27% in, Im not sure why this is?
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: Piru on March 12, 2006, 12:17:57 AM
Don't ever use regular format for partitions crossing or above the 4GB limit or you will destroy the RDB of the disk.

You must use quickformat, always.

If you already did it, the partitions will be gone after reboot.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: SIR-GERMAN on March 12, 2006, 12:22:59 AM
how do i format with sfs ???
what do i have to do after i add the sfs to the hardrive
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: SIR-GERMAN on March 12, 2006, 12:24:32 AM
how do i format with sfs ???
what do i have to do after i add the sfs to the hardrive
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 12, 2006, 12:29:57 AM
All my partitions are smaller then 1.5 gig but thanks for the tip. I will try to do a quick format of the drives.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: Piru on March 12, 2006, 12:52:00 AM
@tonyvdb

This has nothing to do with size.

The location of the partition matters. If it resides even partially over the 4GB limit, regular format will trash the RDB and you lose all partitions.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 12, 2006, 01:11:44 AM
Ok good to know. Does this mean that the partitions above the 4 gig size are not going to be as stable/relyable?
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: Piru on March 12, 2006, 01:18:02 AM
Quote
Does this mean that the partitions above the 4 gig size are not going to be as stable/relyable?

Not at all.

But many applications are not able to access them. For example:

- Format
- ShapeShifter
- DiskSalv
- QuarterBack tools
- many older disk repair tools, editors etc

However, since many of these tools work only on FFS anyway, it doesn't matter much.

Obviously anything writing the disk directly (bypassing the filesystem) will be dangerous, since if the application doesn't handle >4GB correctly it will "wrap back" and trash the RDB and/or the partitions below 4GB. This is the reason why you should never use the regular (non-quick) format.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: tonyvdb on March 12, 2006, 01:29:46 AM
Great information to know. Its all working great now.
Thanks
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: amigagr on March 12, 2006, 08:03:52 PM
Quote

Piru wrote:
@tonyvdb

This has nothing to do with size.

The location of the partition matters. If it resides even partially over the 4GB limit, regular format will trash the RDB and you lose all partitions.


i have a 28.6gb hard disk on the a1200, my 5th partition is 12gb and start at 14.5gb of the disk. i have format them all (6 partitions total 2 of them 6gb) with the standard full format and until now i have no problems

dh0 512mb
dh1   2gb
dh2/3 6gb
dh4  12gb
dh5 2.1gb


-edit-
of course i mean with sfs
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: Piru on March 12, 2006, 08:23:51 PM
@amije

Naturally it depends on your Format command version and the standards supported by the device driver. But even so, there are actually *three* different standards to access disk above the 4GB limit, and even the AmigaOS 3.9 Format only supports one of these methods.

So, in short, due to all this uncertainty, it's much better to assume that the format is not safe.

Full format is waste of time anyway.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: pVC on March 12, 2006, 08:30:15 PM
Phew... same questions always, same misunderstandings, same presumptions... isn't there any FAQ to point people :) Sorry, but one should think that people would have learned something during the years ;)
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: amigagr on March 12, 2006, 08:30:20 PM
the format is v44.14 the scsi.device 43.43
do you think that may will be safer to reformat all the partitions with format-quick or SFSFormat just to avoid future problems?
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: amigagr on March 12, 2006, 08:35:21 PM
Quote

pVC wrote:
Phew... same questions always, same misunderstandings, same presumptions... isn't there any FAQ to point people :) Sorry, but one should think that people would have learned something during the years ;)


yes of course the same questions etc. not all problems happend with the same results at all configurations/hardware we all have here. and of course we keep learning day by day new stuff and keep finding new problems to solve day by day too. that's one of the reasons of these kind of forums here at amiga.org too.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: Piru on March 12, 2006, 08:41:11 PM
@amije

If the format goes bad it goes bad right away (that is the RDB is lost on next reboot, first partition(s) get corrupted). There is no delayed effect other than that.

There is no need to reformat. If you had experienced the problem you would have lost all your partitions already.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: amigagr on March 12, 2006, 08:47:08 PM
ok, thanks for the info  :-)
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: SIR-GERMAN on March 13, 2006, 05:30:08 AM
there is another tutorial for sfs
http://eab.abime.net/faq.php?faq=amigaos_faq_item#faq_winuae_sfs_hd_guide
also if you get the lastest hdinst.lha   6.9 from aminet .
the only thing you have to do is selec the sfs file you are done .
just do a format
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: VickyPettit on September 23, 2013, 01:06:22 AM
I have done that several times.  It doesn't work.
Title: Re: SFS for hard drives larger then 4 gig. How to install?
Post by: VickyPettit on September 23, 2013, 02:29:50 AM
I followed your instructions to the letter and the drive wouldnh't even format correctly.