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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: WeiXing3D on February 24, 2016, 07:31:32 PM

Title: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 24, 2016, 07:31:32 PM
As stated before, I will be receiving an Amiga 3000 in the following days.

The unit is coming originally configured so that Workbench is the 49 MB Quantum SCSI, Work is the Maxtor internal SCSI mounted next to DF0: Internal Floppy and "HardDisk" is an external SCSI - Quantum mounted with Imation CD-R.

So I need help in figuring which will be the best way to install and configured. The idea is to make the SCSI mounted Micro SD card, the bootable unit, and to clone the configuration and information of the original 49MB in there.

I bought a 36" 50-pin SCSI 3-Connector Internal Flat Dual Ribbon Cable - Up To 2 Drives, thinking that it may be needed.

Could somebody please guide me through the process or point me in the direction I need to look to find this information?

I will create a separate thread to ask questions regarding a fresh installation of WB 3.9, to have a spare sd card ready.
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on February 24, 2016, 09:07:40 PM
I assume you mean "Amiga 3000" not "Amiga 300".  ;)

If you want to watch a painfully long and dull video, I recorded installing 3.9 + BB1-4 a year or two ago on Youtube:

Part 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCMw8bStvG4

Part 2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufCuW--Q2nA

It was good practice since I hadn't done it in a long time, but I made a few obviously dumb mistakes, like forgetting to check the "bootable" box in HDToolbox on my main Workbench partition.  ;)

Not much has changed since then but there's a new version of BB3&4 available now that was the subject of another recent thread on here.
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 24, 2016, 09:16:40 PM
@Oldsmobile_Mike
I corrected the typo. Thanks.

Thank you as well for the links on how to prepare and install WB 3.9 in a card. Do you know how to do the cloning of the internal HDD to the sd card, once I get it connected?
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on February 24, 2016, 09:41:25 PM
Here's how I would do it (using the copy command):  http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost.php?p=771467&postcount=4
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 24, 2016, 11:12:17 PM
I forgot to ask: What is the maximum size (capacity) of micro sd card that I could use as an Amiga HDD?

I have a brand new micro sd card, 64 GB in size, screaming "pick me, pick me."
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on February 24, 2016, 11:46:38 PM
Assuming the Amiga sees it as a regular hard drive, your limits are the same as for any other Amiga hard drive.  Typically 4GB, 8GB, or 127GB, depending on a whole bunch of things like your controller, OS version, file system (FFS, PFS, SFS, etc.), and a slew of various other things.

I think there's a few people who've hacked their Amiga's to support 2TB drives, it all just depends how much work you want to put into it.  ;)
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: lost_loven on February 24, 2016, 11:59:59 PM
I used a 16 gig card and works great. Don't for get to set you sd card size with the pc uitl .  After I set up the sd card I just set my partitions and quick formatted the drives and used opus and directly copied everything over from one drive to the other. And of course checked off that boot partition.. I think there is a thread somewhere here with pics and how I mounted it.. Maybe on AEB too.

lost
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 25, 2016, 12:10:49 AM
Quote from: lost_loven;804613
I used a 16 gig card and works great. Don't for get to set you sd card size with the pc uitl .  After I set up the sd card I just set my partitions and quick formatted the drives and used opus and directly copied everything over from one drive to the other. And of course checked off that boot partition.. I think there is a thread somewhere here with pics and how I mounted it.. Maybe on AEB too.

lost


Can this be done in WinUAE and have the sd card ready for the actual installation in A3000?
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: lost_loven on February 25, 2016, 12:23:42 AM
i formatted and set up on a3000. but I haven't mounted it in winuae and copied stuff over, should work thou I would think.  I messed up in the beginning cause I didn't watch what file system I used and after hrs of coping stuff over a reboot lost it all lol.. so watch out for that too..  Anyhow mounting it winuae should take I bet easy. I would set up myself partitions and format first on amiga before messing with it winuae. Right?
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on February 25, 2016, 12:28:19 AM
Quote from: lost_loven;804617
I would set up myself partitions and format first on amiga before messing with it winuae. Right?

I wouldn't do anything on WinUAE, but I'm a bit of a purist.  ;)
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: lost_loven on February 25, 2016, 12:29:34 AM
right lol me too I guess .. I did it all on the a3k too! ..
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: desantii on February 25, 2016, 01:25:11 AM
I've done in winaue and works perfectly in my 3000
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 25, 2016, 01:31:10 AM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;804610
Assuming the Amiga sees it as a regular hard drive, your limits are the same as for any other Amiga hard drive.  Typically 4GB, 8GB, or 127GB, depending on a whole bunch of things like your controller, OS version, file system (FFS, PFS, SFS, etc.), and a slew of various other things.

I think there's a few people who've hacked their Amiga's to support 2TB drives, it all just depends how much work you want to put into it.  ;)


So what format would be recommended for a 6t4GB card, FFS, PFS or SFS)? I believe FFS only works for cards of up to 4GB, is this right?
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on February 25, 2016, 03:42:17 AM
Quote from: WeiXing3D;804622
So what format would be recommended for a 6t4GB card, FFS, PFS or SFS)? I believe FFS only works for cards of up to 4GB, is this right?

FFS can support much more with the latest updates in 3.1 or 3.9.  Personally I would go with the latest version of PFS3-AIO (http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3aio).  I really struggled with it when I first started using it, and couldn't find a good guide to getting it set up, but once you get the hang of it it's great.  You'll want the pfsformat command and other tools from this link (http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/PFS3_53), also.  Others swear by SFS.

Here's a FAQ that gives an almost overwhelming amount of info on Amiga hard drives:  http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?19899-CF-SD-and-large-drives-FAQ

Also look for any post by @Thomas, either here or on EAB, or his FAQ:  http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.de/4gb_faq.html

His Check4GB tool (http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.de/downloads/check4gb.lha) is helpful, too, to determine if your system supports large drives.

Personally, for me, 8GB was plenty for both my A2000 and A500, so I stopped there.  But if you google search and skim a couple of the threads by folks who've put 2TB drives into their Miggy's, you can see what kind of work they've had to do!  ;)
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: lost_loven on February 25, 2016, 11:59:18 AM
I think it comes down to what you want to do with the system.. I just stuck with a classic wb install cause basically all I do is fool around and classic game with the system.. so splitting up a 16 gig card into 4 equal partitions is all I really need with ffs. Whdload, demos.. paint, mods..etc is all really.. not to mention networked does help alot to gettin what ever needed online and on the NAS does help too. Guess it would be different it if was a toaster system or what ever of some sort where speed and space was a value. .. What is the intent of the system everyone has today?
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 25, 2016, 05:03:30 PM
Guys. Thank you all for your responses. I am reading them carefully.

If I am understanding this correctly, I'm hearing from a similar post in EAB that there is a limitation as to the size of micros SD card that I can use, and that limit is 2 GB:

"You also need to take into account the size of the SD card and how much you want to use for the HD. The SCSI2SD comes preset at 2gb. Obviously if your SD card is smaller than that then you need to alter the size to match. Bigger than 2gb is not a problem unless you want to use more than 2gb, if so,then you will have to alter the size to match what you want."

So, is this correct, or I can still use a larger size card?
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on February 25, 2016, 06:06:09 PM
Quote from: WeiXing3D;804668
So, is this correct, or I can still use a larger size card?

I don't own one so can't say for certain, but I think the way the device works is, it defaults to a 2GB card, but if you want to use a larger card you just need to plug the reader into a PC (via USB) and use it's settings tool to tell it you're going to be using a larger card.  That's how I think it operates, anyway.  ;)
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 25, 2016, 10:40:49 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;804672
I don't own one so can't say for certain, but I think the way the device works is, it defaults to a 2GB card, but if you want to use a larger card you just need to plug the reader into a PC (via USB) and use it's settings tool to tell it you're going to be using a larger card.  That's how I think it operates, anyway.  ;)

@Oldsmobile_Mike
Thank you for your help.

I also got a similar replied from Arnie at EAB who shared this:
You need a micro usb cable and the software.

http://www.codesrc.com/files/scsi2sd/v4.6/

Connect the SCSI2SD card to the PC and use scsi2sd-util.exe to alter the settings.

The other exe monitor.exe just checks that the SCSI2SD card is connected and working.

If you feel comfortable doing it then the firmware needs upgrading to 4.6 (It may already be upgraded, but mine came with 4.4)

Well, I ran the firmware upgrade (now v4.6), and the monitor.exe routine says that everything is fine, but I can't make the adapter to save the 4GB new size configuration. It reverts to the default 2GB. See picture.

Any ideas? I'm guessing is because the actual space in this brand new 4GB is not 4GB, but 3.xGB.
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: lost_loven on February 26, 2016, 12:56:24 AM
Quote from: WeiXing3D;804668
Guys. Thank you all for your responses. I am reading them carefully.

If I am understanding this correctly, I'm hearing from a similar post in EAB that there is a limitation as to the size of micros SD card that I can use, and that limit is 2 GB:

"You also need to take into account the size of the SD card and how much you want to use for the HD. The SCSI2SD comes preset at 2gb. Obviously if your SD card is smaller than that then you need to alter the size to match. Bigger than 2gb is not a problem unless you want to use more than 2gb, if so,then you will have to alter the size to match what you want."

So, is this correct, or I can still use a larger size card?


thats right.. Just connect the card to a pc via usb and set the size to what the sd card is. It got me at first too cause all it saw was 2 gig on a 16 gig card and i was like what the f .. . but reading into it i downloaded the util and connected it and set the size to what i was using..
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 26, 2016, 01:22:38 AM
Quote from: lost_loven;804693
thats right.. Just connect the card to a pc via usb and set the size to what the sd card is. It got me at first too cause all it saw was 2 gig on a 16 gig card and i was like what the f .. . but reading into it i downloaded the util and connected it and set the size to what i was using..


Well, precisely, I am selecting 4 GB for device 1 from the utilities.exe, but it is not saving the new size and it goes back to 2GB.

Why is this? What else do In need to do besides clicking Save to Device?:hammer:
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: lost_loven on February 26, 2016, 01:53:25 AM
I updated the firmware on the device too..and yes just selected save to device after setting size. maybe try a different usb port if no success ?
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: SACC-guy on February 26, 2016, 05:38:46 PM
Check your cable? some are just for charging not data exchange...
Title: Re: Installation of Amigakit's SCSI to Micro SD card adapter
Post by: WeiXing3D on February 26, 2016, 05:49:15 PM
Quote from: SACC-guy;804717
Check your cable? some are just for charging not data exchange...


Cable is good since I used it to update the firmware :)