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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: gdanko on February 01, 2007, 04:15:04 AM
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I have an A1200 with KS 3.1 and I am trying to install a 10 GB hard disk. I am told I first need to install IDEfix97, then install SFS to format the larger partitions. Here is the order of events I tried.
1) Install the HDD into the Amiga
2) Boot the 3.1 installer
3) Add SFS 2.3 to the HDToolBox
4) Using HDToolBox create a 1 GB partition
5) Install the OS to the 1 GB partition
6) Reboot
7) Install IDEfix (I cancelled at the CDROM install since I have none, but C:IDEfix was started)
8) Reboot to be sure
9) Open HDToolBox and create a new partition, changing its type to SFS in the advanced section.
10) Save disk config and reboot
11) Nothing comes up after reboot.
My first question is: If I do not have a CD-ROM drive is it safe to cancel the IDEfix installation at that point?
I checked the startup-sequence and IDEfix is loaded at boot so I know it is running.
My second question is: Is my order of events the correct method to install this combination?
I had no trouble with SFS on my 3000 and 4000 but this 1200 setup has me confused!
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Did you format the SFS partitions using "quick format", unchecking the options for FFS, Trashcan and International Mode? I had a similar problem and doing a "full" format rather than a "quick format" seemed to make a difference for some reason. In other words, do the "Quick" format.
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The new partition did not show up after the reboot so I couldnt even try to format it. :(
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HDInstTools :)
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My first question is: If I do not have a CD-ROM drive is it safe to cancel the IDEfix installation at that point?
I think not. The point of using IDEFix is to patch the scsi.device to overcome the 4GB barrier.
You don't need it in case you plan to utilize only the first 4GBs of your HD.
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11) Nothing comes up after reboot.
Of course not. Partitions are mounted *before* the amiga starts to boot and IDEfix is loaded *during* boot. So your partitions are mounted before IDEfix loads.
What you should do is to replace C:IDEfix in Startup-Sequence by C:LoadIDE RESET. The few comments at the top of S-S say this, too.
With this change IDEfix is installed into memory in a reset-proof way and a reset is caused. Now the patch applies before partitions are mounted.
Bye,
Thomas
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AmigaMance wrote:
My first question is: If I do not have a CD-ROM drive is it safe to cancel the IDEfix installation at that point?
I think not. The point of using IDEFix is to patch the scsi.device to overcome the 4GB barrier.
You don't need it in case you plan to utilize only the first 4GBs of your HD.
Hmmm... If I try to scan the CD-ROM obviously none comes up so the installers asks me to put the device number of my CD-ROM.. which still doesn't exist. Maybe it's just not clear in the wording of the installer.
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You shouldn't focus on IDEFix right now, you know.. I don't think that it is responsible for the invisible partiotion problem but anyway. The CD device number is usually 1.
And a more certain way to see if IDEFix is really intalled is to open a CLI window and type: version full scsi.device . If the date is more recent than 1992, it's installed.
Between steps 9 and 10, you could try to quick format the partition inside the HDToolBox. Also, make sure that the partition is set as "Automount".
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version full scsi.device shoes 1999. I modified startup-sequence to do a C:LoadIDE reset quiet so I have the right scsi.device.
So now I have IDEfix97 running as it should. HDinstTool reports the disk as an 8 GB when it is in reality a 40 GB.
I have a 1 GB FFS partition the OS is installed to. Now HDInstTool reports the 2nd partition as 7.something GB. But no matter how I try to format the partition it comes out as 2.9 GB.
No matter if I use SFSFormat, HDToolBox or HDInstTool, I get the same size after format.
Any ideas?
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But no matter how I try to format the partition it comes out as 2.9 GB.
Who says that (which program) ? There is not a single program for OS3.1 which can deal with sizes bigger than 4GB correctly. But this is only a cosmetic problem. All functions work correctly nevertheless.
HDinstTool reports the disk as an 8 GB when it is in reality a 40 GB.
Don't use HDInstTool, use HDToolbox. And make sure that the geometry data is determined correctly. If the tool does not read it correctly, you have to correct the values manually.
Note: 16 heads, 63 sectors and 16384 cylinders is *not* the correct geometry. This is the maximum for old PC BIOSes and limits the size to 7.8 GB.
Search the manufacturer's documentation for the total number of user sectors for the drive, divide it by 1008 (= 16 * 63) and use the result as number of cylinders. For 40 GB you should have around 77500 cylinders.
Note that HDInstTool does not let you override the geometry. That's the reason why you should use HDToolbox.
And note well: once you've choosen one program to edit partitions and created some partitions with it, you must not use any other program to do the same. Especially when switching from HDToolbox to HDInstTool, all your partitions will be lost.
Bye,
Thomas