Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Tutorials => Topic started by: ZeBeeDee on May 07, 2007, 04:26:18 AM
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The tutorial has been removed for a complete re-write along with pictures for each step. It will reappear at a later date but if anybody has questions regarding the installation of a CF card in the meantime, please PM me.
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Excellent :-) Thanks for that.
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ZeBeeDee wrote:
Portions of this tutorial were taken from the excellent hard drive installation tutorial by 'InTheSand'. Hope I haven't stepped on your toes in using as it saved me alot of typing. :-)
Hehe! No worries! I don't mind as long as I'm credited!
- Ali
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@ ZeBeeDee
A job well done :pint:
@ InTheSand
You too :pint:
:cheers:
A4000 Mad
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A4000_Mad wrote:
@ ZeBeeDee
A job well done :pint:
@ InTheSand
You too :pint:
/me takes a bow
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I cant get any further than step number 6
my a1200 well not boot help?
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1 44pin Compact Flash adapter (Ebay is the best place for this - seller kitty.wun <-- name dropper hehehe).
I've been seeing these recently in large computer stores (Microcenter here in the US) for cheap. May be a good alternative to ebay if you can get it local.
I was all excited to try the Flash mod until I read that Compact Flash drives begin to get corrupted then completely fail after several hundred thousand write/erase operations. I'm not sure how that compares to a disk drive, but I have IDE drives that are over 15 years old and still work fine, and I'm pretty sure they've had more than a few hundred thousand writes or erases. Anyone have any more detailed info comparing the two options?
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think of Compact Flash drive as a boot drive
something that well get you into the workbench
then you use a usb based hard drive to store all your other stuff
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I have got my a1200 booting using install 3.1
on step 10:
click on the "Read Configuration" button.
I get "Unit is not a disk (type 7)"
the size is wrong 211Mb (got 256Mb card)
To commit your changes to the hard drive, click on "Save Changes to Drive"
I get "Error 3 on write"
what am I doing wrong?
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If I remember correctly, I was able to fix that problem using this patch: http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/HDToolBoxPatch (It required some program to apply the patch to HDToolBox.)
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Gpatch is the program you need
tryed with uae patching worked but failed with media
about to try with real computer
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tom_a_spar wrote:
think of Compact Flash drive as a boot drive
something that well get you into the workbench
then you use a usb based hard drive to store all your other stuff
What's the point of that? A USB hard disk on an Amiga would be SO SLOW, would take up all the CPU time while being accessed, would not work in a lot of software (e.g. WHDLoad games which don't like the USB stack to be running) etc etc. If you don't want all your data stored on a CompactFlash card you might as well just use a hard drive inside your Amiga.
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moto
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I would only look at CF adpater as an alternative to HDD if you use your miggy mainly for games. There is alot less writes then.
As alwyas though HDD can fail suddenly just as easliy. So you should alwyas back up important data regularly.
Most modern solid state memory actually has spare blocks(for want of the correct erminology) that are not used bu the controlling hardware until other start to fail
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if you main goal is boot speed and hot swapable (not when powered on) OSes
witch is what I am looking at
not playing games but using the apps
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tom_a_spar wrote:
Gpatch is the program you need
tryed with uae patching worked but failed with media
about to try with real computer
"error 3 on write" while saving changes to drive
I tryed HDIntslTools failed with error 1001
help
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I have managed to get this running very cheaply - so thanks for the tutorial.
what i want to do now is have one of the partitions on the CF card as FAT. i can then use FAT95 from aminet to access it. I want to be able to remove the card pop it in a pc write files to it then put it back in the amiga.
Question how do i add a FAT partition on the end of DH0 and DH1 so i can access it in this way? Or is there some other ingenuous util on the PC side that can write into the amiga partition?
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I don't think that will work as simply as you think. Your Amiga's CF card contains an RDB - an Amiga partition table. This is not readable by Windows, even if it contains a FAT partition. You would have to use the CF card within an Amiga emulator under Windows.
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moto
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motorollin wrote:
I don't think that will work as simply as you think. Your Amiga's CF card contains an RDB - an Amiga partition table. This is not readable by Windows, even if it contains a FAT partition. You would have to use the CF card within an Amiga emulator under Windows.
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moto
Which emulator would you recommend?
Also, will Fat95 be able to access the partition on the real amiga?
[edit] I think i am being dense. so you mean access the CF card, which is amiga formatted only, via some mounted drive in the emulator?
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Thanks motorollin.
I downloaded WinUAE, removed the CF from the amiga (which has WB2.1 etc on it) and plugged it in the PC. i added the CF card as a drive (it was recognised as having an RDB) and bobs your uncle - UAE boots. if i 'add pc drives at startup' then i can drag and drop files from my PC to amiga. Once the card is back in the 600 all works as expected...
:pint:
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JJ wrote:
I would only look at CF adpater as an alternative to HDD if you use your miggy mainly for games. There is alot less writes then.
Modern flash memory will last a very long time thanks to write balancing. The amount of writes they report is per sector and you do not actually write to the same sector every time, the flash remaps it transparently to balance the wear.
Hypothesis: flash sectors are 512B, MTBF is 100 000 writes, you write once per second, CF card is 4GB:
- you have 4194304 bytes
- means 8192 sectors of 512 bytes
- the whole card lasts for 819 200 000 seconds of 24/7 writing, which is 9481.48148 days which is around 25 years.
You do not normally write once per second, but even in the worst case scenario your card will last 25 years? I know this is not the real world situation, normally there is less free space on the card, as some of it is software and only some is data.. You must also remember that the cards have a huge amount (someone said double) of spare sectors that it maps in as the originals die.
Unless there is some bad manufacturing defect in the CF card, it will probably last longer than the Amiga it is plugged into, as the Amiga has a head start of at least 14 years towards hardware failure.
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Just to assure those who are really worried about this solution: Nowadays you can buy things like "industrial CF". Those cards are 20x more resistant to write faliures compared to ordinary CF cards. Yes, that means they are specified to withstand 2 million write cycles! Using Jope's formula above, You would get some 500 years... I doubt your Amiga will last that long ;)
/Eriond
PS. Just google on "industrial compact flash" and You will get plenty of results!
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Great tutorial! Would this work the same in an A600 HD?
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I'd like to this but i want to be sure which CF card to use. I want to put in a 4gb card but which brand to take?
Anybody some advice?
Thanks.
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I've found that in my experience, the brand of CF card is immaterial. Other people may have differing views.
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the-topdog wrote:
Great tutorial! Would this work the same in an A600 HD?
Yes, the process is the same for the A600.
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Hi ireally apreciate the job you`ve done explaing this and it works for me up to a point workbench fine untill I tried to reload my software although I have 3 gig in thr work partition it keeps telling me ihave less than 1 meg.
Format both of your newly created drives as outlined in the manual what manual :cry: could you include a paragraph on that :-D
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Do you use Amiga OS 3.1 or lower? If so, you should keep your partitions under 2 GB. OS 3.1 and lower have a limit of 2 GB per partition using FFS. Using larger partitions can cause weird errors, like the ones you are experiencing now.
If you want larger partitions, you should either use OS3.5/3.9 or another filesystem.
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os 3.1 install auto patitions workbench to 8 meg how do Iget around that
Jiffy wrote:
Do you use Amiga OS 3.1 or lower? If so, you should keep your partitions under 2 GB. OS 3.1 and lower have a limit of 2 GB per partition using FFS. Using larger partitions can cause weird errors, like the ones you are experiencing now.
If you want larger partitions, you should either use OS3.5/3.9 or another filesystem.
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how do you overide the 3.1 install disc hard drive setup.
which auto configers the hard drive partition 8meg for workbench and the rest all 3gig+ to work
basically how do iover ride the install disc :-? :madashell: :lol:
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stanlong wrote:
how do you overide the 3.1 install disc hard drive setup.
which auto configers the hard drive partition 8meg for workbench and the rest all 3gig+ to work
basically how do i over ride the install disc :-? :madashell: :lol:
See steps 8 & 9 and set the partition sizes manually using HDToolbox.
And the 'manual' you asked about in a previous post is your A1200 manual.
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oh yea how many times have i done that:crazy: have done the required steps and my manuals do not all 2 of them do not have any info they refer me to the hard drive users manual which I have never seen a copy of ever maybe you can fill me in
A1200 os 3.1
partitiion (4) four gig flash card into (2) two partitions
one at twenty meg for Workbench DF0
and one at (1.8)one.eight gig for work DF1
if this is possible how to do
any help appreciated :roll:
Still need to over ride auto config on the 3.1 install
disc :-o
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I'll assume you only have one disc drive (if 2 drives then put Install 3.1 in DF1: - or external drive)
Once you've loaded Workbench and you are now looking at the Workbench screen, remove the Workbench 3.1 floppy disc and insert the HD Install floppy.
Open up the HD Install floppy (double left click on the disk icon)
Wait for the drive's contents to appear, then double-click on the "HDTools" drawer icon
Wait for the contents to be displayed, then double-click on the "HDToolBox" application icon. If you can't see the "HDToolBox' icon, then right click, go up to the Window[/u] menu then to the Show[/u] and All Files[/u] sub menus.
Note![/u] If single drive Amiga, you might have to swap floppy disks a couple of times ... just follow the onscreen prompts
HDToolBox will perform a quick scan of the drives on your system, then it'll display what it's found
From there, click on Partition Drive then click on ADVANCED OPTIONS[/u] box ... now you can edit, resize or delete partitions at will.
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Formatting the hard drive is EXACTLY[/u] the same as formatting a floppy disk.
Left click on the drive you wish to format, move mouse pointer to the white bar at the top of the screen. Press right mouse button then goto Icons menu ... Format Disc is at the bottom of the pop-up menu. Just ensure you choose FFS (fast file susyem) ... it helps a lot!
Job done! :-)
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As an addition, a bit off topic. but though
I have this (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.727) little thing.
And it removes the need of the 44 - 40 pin cable.
I have it in my A1200 and use a standard ide 40 pin cable with two ide connectors. Harddisk and cd-rom works like a charm...
recomended
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;-) got it :-)
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I had to post a reply on here ZeBeeDee & you already knew that.
RE the accusations of Merlin stealing CF Installation.
Not true.
A.0rg Mods notified.
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I have an A1200, single drive, with WB 2.05 disks. I also have an San Disk CF card with adapter, 1GB. I will eventually find a 2.5 HD to install the OS on but in the mean time I would like to find directions on how to install 2.05 on to the CF card. Thank you.
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ZeBeeDee wrote:
The tutorial has been removed for a complete re-write along with pictures for each step. It will reappear at a later date but if anybody has questions regarding the installation of a CF card in the meantime, please PM me.
So... this happening anytime soon?
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Yes, I also need a simple tutorial as I am having a frustrating time. Does anyone know if one exists on this site or another?