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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: pneron on December 31, 2016, 12:42:54 AM
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Dear Colleagues
I am in process of adding new SCSI drives to my A2000. I was told I could use 4 GIGS SSD drives, but right now I have 2 new SCSI drives that I would like to use. I don't remember what to do and I was hoping you could walk me through the format and LUN option giving the size limitation of OS3.9.
I assume I can use these drives if I prep and format them correctly.?
Appreciate the advice and newbie instructions
Thanks
Drive Specs:
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Seagate Cheetah 300 GB Internal HDD 3.5"; 10K.7.
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/scsi/cheetah_10k7_scsi_pm.pdf
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You're trying to put 300GB drives in your Amiga? :)
3.9 has fewer limitations than previous versions, but even if you use the latest HDToolbox and PFS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_File_System) or SFS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_File_System) file system, you're probably still going to have some issues creating partitions out beyond 128GB. That's assuming your controller supports them and you have the right adapters to physically plug them in.
IMHO unless you have a pressing need for that much storage you might be better off starting a little smaller until you've acquired more experience? But what the heck, you only live once, right? Go for it. :D
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First partition, the boot partition, 500MB is enough for all you need. Make sure to set all parameters perfectly, including the right file system. No going back.
Next install 3.1 and CDfile system.
Next install 3.9
Now use the new toolbox, it should show all of the drive.
Partition the rest as you like with a good fast file system.
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Personally I would skip 3.1 and just go straight to the 3.9 install. Less likely to have old, legacy files floating around that way.
Would also suggest reading through some of the other threads on the forum for potential obstacles. LoadWB's thread (also on the home screen) might have some useful tips for you.
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my current system has 4 drives:
1Gig = OS
2Gig = APPS
3& 4 = 2 x 17 Gigs - partitioned at 1.4G
Most of 3&4 drive was for Music Files (this was my Old DAW - digital audio workstation system - back in the day) I need the space for these AIFF files and wanted to transfer all of this data to these drives for now before they die. These drives are ~ 20 years if you can believe it.
make sense?
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right now, I am running OS3.9....so to be clear, I need to boot with 3.1 and begin the configuration?
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right now, I am running OS3.9....so to be clear, I need to boot with 3.1 and begin the configuration?
Oh god no. :(
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Personally I would skip 3.1 and just go straight to the 3.9 install. Less likely to have old, legacy files floating around that way.
Would also suggest reading through some of the other threads on the forum for potential obstacles. LoadWB's thread (also on the home screen) might have some useful tips for you.
Exactly how do you boot form a CD with no CDFS?
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right now, I am running OS3.9....so to be clear, I need to boot with 3.1 and begin the configuration?
No, you don't HAVE to.
What you could do is, set the SCSI ID of one drive to an unused number. Putting the Logical Unit Number to the same value should avoid conflicts with your existing drive.
Then, plug connect it to your existing setup, and see if HDToolbox will let you access the drive.
Probably not, because it is already formatted (being an older drive).
Technically SCSI supports hot plug, but not hot unplug (you can add a drive to a live system, but not remove it without crashing the system).
Or you can err on the safe side, and power off before connecting the drive.
Either your Amiga will not boot, or it will. After that, it's a question if HDToolbox can make sense of the existing partition information.
I understand there is a hard coded limit of 65K maximum surfaces, so it will almost definitely overshoot that.
BUT, if you don't take a shot, you can never hit.
One issue can be, with a 10K drive, you have to reboot anyway. Because the drive takes longer to spin up to working speed. Should not be a problem with the Cheetahs, they are quite new, in comparison to older 10K drives.
This is why there is some sense to spinning up the drive, then attaching it.
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Exactly how do you boot form a CD with no CDFS?
Um, with the 3.9 ERD boot floppy. There's instructions and a tool for making one right on the disk. Contains HDtoolbox and everything else you need for setting up a new Amiga hard drive + 3.9 install.
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Then, plug connect it to your existing setup, and see if HDToolbox will let you access the drive.
Probably not, because it is already formatted (being an older drive).
these are new drives, never been used?
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Since you already have a running 3.9 system that's going to make this a *lot* easier. Just make sure you're running at least BB2 (BB4 is better), plug it in, and use HDtoolbox to prep with the file system of your choice (PFS or SFS are recommended) and partition/format. Check the box to make one of the partitions bootable (typically the first partition, <500 MB) if you intend to install an OS and make it a boot drive.
Read the docs for those file systems, I still think you're going to have issues out beyond 128GB, but don't know, never tried. ;)
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@pneron,
Misundertsood, your already on 3.9, easy from there. Although there is wasted space on boot partition you should be able to part it out well. When you get all your normal partitions done you should see more space. Never got to 300GB though. Give it a shot.
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Just hooked it up to a free SCSI address:
https://youtu.be/oFmNzh-j7Fw
OK, now how do I partition this?
Thanks guys
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Blurry on my phone. Damn YouTube video compression. What does it say? Try a screenshot.
In any case, I recognize the Install screen. Assuming it detected the properties correctly you just need to hit "Install", then go on to partitioning it. ;)
Edit: nevermind. Looks like you'll need to manually enter those values. :(
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https://youtu.be/ZFDkbw6sow4
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Looks like it gave me 15x5Gig drives ~ 45Gigs for one type of config. I assume the rest of the space is wasted?
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Then, plug connect it to your existing setup, and see if HDToolbox will let you access the drive.
Probably not, because it is already formatted (being an older drive).
these are new drives, never been used?
OK, my mistake.
Just as well really, at least HDToolbox didn't have to worry about existing partition info.
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Looks like it gave me 15x5Gig drives ~ 45Gigs for one type of config. I assume the rest of the space is wasted?
Try making some 4GB part's first, maybe game, tools or whatever and see what's left after.
maybe if some are "designated" it will move on.
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Looks like it gave me 15x5Gig drives ~ 45Gigs for one type of config. I assume the rest of the space is wasted?
No. It gave you 15 X 5 gig PARTITIONS.
Big difference. A disk icon sitting on your Workbench doesn't mean it's a complete drive. It means that there's a folder attached to the icon, somewhere on your system, or maybe on a different system over a network.
15 times 5 is 45? Looks more like 75 to me.
I guess what you could try is removing the partitions, and increasing size of each one to 7.8 Gb - that should be just about possible.
Theoretically, about 120, which together with your boot partition, brings up to about 128GB, which should be the limit.
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OK...thanks
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You need to manually enter the correct drive geometry before you even begin to partition it, unless you want to end up with a whole bunch of wasted space.
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You should NOT have to manually enter drive geometry. It should be properly read by HD toolbox automatically when you hit read geometry
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Omfg. HDtoolbox can't read every drive correctly. Go read LoadWB's thread right next to this one. From what I could see of his first video it looks like it detected only 45GB instead of 300. :(
Edit: I'm assuming you are hitting the correct buttons in HDtoolbox, lol. ;)
You still haven't mentioned what file system you're planning on using. Please say it's either PFS or SFS. :)
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lol...I am ...I will send another screen shot of total config
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BTW: In the HDToolBox I don't see PFS or SFS?..
Should I just use FFS?
Also, so far it looks like I am getting ~ 13 drives partitioned @ 8 Gigs with 1 or 2 at 5Gig and 400m when I chose "automatic" from HDToolBox
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OK, as per previous video, looks like 45Gigs is the magic number when selecting automatic from HDToolKit. All the other partitions that popped up I was not able to format (got a DOS error). Is this lost space or do I need to customize things for getting more space?
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You need to manually configure the drive geometry to use the full space on your drive.
The latest version of PFS3-AIO is on Aminet. You'll want that, plus the "53" tools. Not sure where folks get SFS (I don't use it), but am sure someone can chime in on that one. Look at the links in my previous post to learn more about them. You really should use one or the other, not FFS.
And don't use "Automatic" partition sizing. ;)
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Also, Google the drive. At the very least, heads and sectors.
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You need to manually configure the drive geometry to use the full space on your drive.
OK, but how do I go about figuring this out?
Thanks
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You need to manually configure the drive geometry to use the full space on your drive.
OK, but how do I go about figuring this out?
Thanks
Page 21 of the first link you posted gives maximum values. ;)
I think you are going to have to limit track surfaces to 65535, the maximum is 90,774 for the 300GB version.
But it's all there mate. You just got to figure out what the maximum values are that 3.9 will like..
... and look on the bright side, that's LOADS more than a 3.1 machine could access.
I still think it will crap out about 128GB, but you are the explorer in this case - you might just find out something new.
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OK...will give this a shot - thanks for the response
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OK, I changed the Max to 90,774 from the specs and the most I was getting was 64Gigs. The geometry was pre-calculated for me based on the MAX size. The system dumped out 10 drives but I was only able format 4 @ 16gigs..the rest kept giving my DOS errors.
So this is what I did:
90,774 =64.9 Gigs
X = 300 gigs
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X= 419,602
I entered this new number and was now able to get 3 drives @ 75Gigs (225).
1 for APPs, 1 for OS, 1 for Audio & Projects
I suspect the limitation is on OS addressing side.
(Note the actual size of this HD is 279gig)
still, 225 Gigs is not bad right?