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Operating System Specific Discussions => Amiga OS => Topic started by: jaesonk on July 28, 2023, 02:32:01 AM
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I used PFS3 in the past on other systems. I only have FFS partitions under OS3.2 on the current Amiga. I downloaded PFS3AIO from Aminet but it doesn't include an installer or documentation for install/setup.
Do I just copy the files to L: then add the filesystem in HDToolBox? What ID should be used? Any other particulars to be aware of?
Can PSF3AIO be used for boot partitions?
Thanks.
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Hi there. Yes PFSAIO can be used on boot partitions, I have it installed on my CF card which I boot from.
I needed to install it on a new drive earlier this week and couldn't remember some of the settings so found the included AmigaGuide doc very useful. I also found this page and the section called "Optional: Use the pfs3 file system" https://johan.driessen.se/posts/Setting-up-a-Compact-Flash-card-with-Classic-Workbench-and-WHDLoad-for-Amiga-600-1200/.
You then need to format the partition so you will lose any existing data.
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Thank you for the link. I will take a look at this.
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I used PFS3 in the past on other systems. I only have FFS partitions under OS3.2 on the current Amiga. I downloaded PFS3AIO from Aminet but it doesn't include an installer or documentation for install/setup.
Do I just copy the files to L: then add the filesystem in HDToolBox? What ID should be used? Any other particulars to be aware of?
Can PSF3AIO be used for boot partitions?
Thanks.
Plenty of topics on this subject in the web.
As a rule I use the following DOS Identifier for PFS which is: 50465303
Good luck.
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This is what I did when installing pfs3aio
1. Downloaded pf3aio from aminet (https://aminet.net/disk/misc/pfs3aio.lha (https://aminet.net/disk/misc/pfs3aio.lha))
2. Extracted the archive to RAM:
3. Copied pfs3aio to L: [note the extract generates two files in ram: pfs3aio and pfs3aio-custom. I used pfs3aio) if you want you can extract direct to L:
4. Opened HDToolBox [you will find it in the Tools drawer]
5. Selected Partition Drive
6. Select Advanced Options [will bring up additional buttons & options]
7. Click Add/Update ...
8. Click Add New File System
9. Navigate to L: and select pfs3aio that was saved in step 3 [alternatively type L:pfs3aio) and then click "OK"
10. Dos Type is: 0x50465303; Version is 19 and Revision is 2. Click OK
11. Select the partition you want to use PFS3AIO; Click "Change"
12. Select PFS\03 in the file System Drop Down
13. Identifier should be the same as step 10
14. MASK = 0x7FFFFFFE (Six Fs)
15. MAX Transfer = 0xFFFFFF (Six Fs)
16. File System Block Size. I've set mine to 512 but you can set different values depending on your set up / drive capacity.
17. Tick Automount this partition (if not already ticked)
18. Click "OK".
19. In the main HDToolBox screen click "bootable" if you want to make it a bootable partition else leave unticked.
20. Set buffers (I have mine set at 300 for my boot partition and 512 for my larger work partitions - note: the larger the buffer the more ram you need. I've got 128MB on my CSMKII)
20. Click "OK"
21. Reboot the Amiga (it may ask you to do this after clicking OK).
Note: when changing values (Mask, Max Transfer etc) always hit "Return". If you don't the values you enter wont be retained.
See screen shots attached.
Weed
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Hi,
Good explanation but the Max Transfer value that worked in my A1200 was 0x1FE00. With the value 0xFFFFFF I was getting errors like the attached one.
Thx!
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I would say there is an issue with your drive.
I have my SD setup exactly as described in post before yours and never had any errors.
I think different devices react differently depending on what filesystem is used.
I do however set block size to 1024 for boot (2gb) and my larger drives (28gb each) as 4096.
As a rule I use the following DOS Identifier for PFS which is: 50465303
Why not Direct Scsi PFS3?
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I use PFS3 and it can be hit and miss with the Max Transfer. Normally OS 3.2 will set this to the max. But have had SD card issues with this setting. I use DOS 0x50465303. But this is on version 19.2.
Now I have been brave and use Tony Willens Version 20.0 BETA which works great! By the way 19.2 (Current public release) doesn’t use anything past 1024 block size even though HDToolBox will set it. Version 20.0 does and works well, even fixes a tonne of issues I was having with 19.2.
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I use PFS3 and it can be hit and miss with the Max Transfer. Normally OS 3.2 will set this to the max. But have had SD card issues with this setting. I use DOS 0x50465303. But this is on version 19.2.
Now I have been brave and use Tony Willens Version 20.0 BETA which works great! By the way 19.2 (Current public release) doesn’t use anything past 1024 block size even though HDToolBox will set it. Version 20.0 does and works well, even fixes a tonne of issues I was having with 19.2.
Where can that Beta be found?
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1st post here:
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=115072
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1st post here:
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=115072
Strange. I've seen that thread before without seeing the attachment. Time to do some testing then!
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Strange. I've seen that thread before without seeing the attachment. Time to do some testing then!
Same, never even knew there was a beta. Thought it would have been pushed by now, as its from last year.
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Same, never even knew there was a beta. Thought it would have been pusched by now, as its from last year.
Yeah, when I was on there before the bald one spat his dummy out 🤦🏻♂️ and got me kicked off. I was in conversation with Toni about it. I think there was another thread somewhere, where people were testing it? I asked Toni when it was to be released properly? All I got was “When it’s ready and it won’t corrupt data”. Been using the Beta release over a year without incident 🤞🏻 Sorts out a lot of issues I had with 19.2 (3.1) current release. Can use it with zip and Jaz drives as well. The 4096 block size works really well 👍🏻
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I have a GVP T-REX-II accelerator with SCSI controller. The system I'm using this card with gvpscsi2.device in an A4000 with OS 3.2.2.1 ROMs.
HDToolBox recognizes the larger drive (18GB Seagate Cheetah). I can set up partitions across the full drive (just using FFS). But it won't format above the 4GB barrier. I get a "seek failure". Partitions below the 4GB barrier will format.
Problems with the T-REX-II and 4GB are mentioned on this page:
https://www.gregdonner.org/gvp4060/solutions.html
I'm not able to burn a replacement ROM for my T-REX-II.
Some suggested that PFS3AIO might be a work-around solution. I've use it before on other systems. I set it up with the Cheetah drive. Partitions below the 4GB barrier are still FFS. Two partitions above the 4GB barrier are switch PFS3AIO. After saving and rebooting, the PFS3 partitions do no appear on Workbench at all. I do have them set to automount in HDToolBox. I tried with and without SCSI Direct selected. Is there something else that I need to check? Do these partitions need to be manually mounted? If so, how do I create proper mountlists? Or will PFS3 not solve my problem with the T-REX-II and large drives?
Thanks in advance.
Jaeson
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I have a GVP T-REX-II accelerator with SCSI controller. The system I'm using this card with gvpscsi2.device in an A4000 with OS 3.2.2.1 ROMs.
HDToolBox recognizes the larger drive (18GB Seagate Cheetah). I can set up partitions across the full drive (just using FFS). But it won't format above the 4GB barrier. I get a "seek failure". Partitions below the 4GB barrier will format.
Problems with the T-REX-II and 4GB are mentioned on this page:
https://www.gregdonner.org/gvp4060/solutions.html
I'm not able to burn a replacement ROM for my T-REX-II.
Some suggested that PFS3AIO might be a work-around solution. I've use it before on other systems. I set it up with the Cheetah drive. Partitions below the 4GB barrier are still FFS. Two partitions above the 4GB barrier are switch PFS3AIO. After saving and rebooting, the PFS3 partitions do no appear on Workbench at all. I do have them set to automount in HDToolBox. I tried with and without SCSI Direct selected. Is there something else that I need to check? Do these partitions need to be manually mounted? If so, how do I create proper mountlists? Or will PFS3 not solve my problem with the T-REX-II and large drives?
Thanks in advance.
Jaeson
Have had similar issues with other SCSI adapters on the Amiga. Unfortunately you are still tied to the firmware of the Adapter.
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Been using the Beta release over a year without incident 🤞🏻 Sorts out a lot of issues I had with 19.2 (3.1) current release.
What issues were you having with 19.2? Asking as I'm contemplating updating to the beta.
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What issues were you having with 19.2? Asking as I'm contemplating updating to the beta.
Strange behaviour with booting up using removable media such as Zip and Jaz. Had to use FFS instead.
On HDD side with SD and CF couldn’t utilise 4096K block size. Issues with max transfer and if using higher Buffer sizes would cause media not to boot up, unless I dropped this down to a max transfer of 0x0FFE.
Remember that v 20.0 (3.2) needs the latter version of PFS Doctor. Older versions will corrupt the drive if repairing.
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Is there a way to prioritize which drive controller gets accessed first? My boot drive is on the IDE bus, a secondary drive is on the GVP T-REX-II SCSI bus. T-REX-II will apparently ignore new file systems added to the RDB of drives on it's SCSI bus (unless you can update the ROM). But if the AmigaOS reads the boot drive IDE bus first, then file systems (like PFS3AIO) added to it can be accessible to the GVP SCSI. I think my A4000 is looking the the GVP SCSI first, so any partitions defined with PFS3AIO are not being recognized.
I can get FFS partitions to work above the 4GB barrier on the GVP SCSI as long as direct SCSI is used. For some reason I had trouble this first times I was trying this (with direct scsi), but I started over with defaults and this time it worked (with direct SCSI).
Jaeson
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Is there a way to prioritize which drive controller gets accessed first? My boot drive is on the IDE bus, a secondary drive is on the GVP T-REX-II SCSI bus. T-REX-II will apparently ignore new file systems added to the RDB of drives on it's SCSI bus (unless you can update the ROM). But if the AmigaOS reads the boot drive IDE bus first, then file systems (like PFS3AIO) added to it can be accessible to the GVP SCSI. I think my A4000 is looking the the GVP SCSI first, so any partitions defined with PFS3AIO are not being recognized.
I can get FFS partitions to work above the 4GB barrier on the GVP SCSI as long as direct SCSI is used. For some reason I had trouble this first times I was trying this (with direct scsi), but I started over with defaults and this time it worked (with direct SCSI).
Jaeson
The Amiga will always favour the IDE over SCSI. (caveat, Not sure how the A4000T works).
The best way would set the IDE device as Bootable and make sure there is no Bootable on the SCSI drives.
Remember that the boot priority can also play a part. I.e “0” lowest, “4” highest. “5” is reserved for the Floppy drive, therefore why it will always boot a floppy disk first regardless of HDD installed.
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@Boing-ball I am not happy with what you write. That AmigaOS prefers IDE is only by coincidence. The OS will initialize drivers in the order they appear in the resident modules list. In order to build the resident modules list it will first scan the Kickstart ROM for resident tags and then add expansions from the Zorro bus. Hence mainboard periphals will be initialized before third-party expansions.
Each driver on initialization will scan its hardware for partitioned harddrives and read the partition tables. It will add all partitions into a list to be mounted by dos.library and all bootable partitions into a list of boot nodes, ordered by boot priority. It will also read required file systems from the RDB and add them to filesystem.resource if not already present or present with a lower version.
Therefore if a later driver will encounter a third-party file system on one of its partitions it might benefit from an earlier driver which has already loaded this file system.
Only when all drivers have been initialized, dos.library is started, will mount all partitions from the mount list and start booting from the first node in the boot list. This means that the boot priority does not have any influence on whether a partition is mounted or not, it only determines which partition is used for booting.
Also 5 is in no way reserved for the floppy drive, it is only hardcoded. But nothing hinders you to set your partition to 5, too. It just won't boot because the floppy drive is checked first.
Valid boot priorities range from -127 to 127 while -128 means not bootable. You can indeed set your partition to a higher value than 5 to prohibit floppy booting (you can still select the floppy drive in the early startup menu).
I would always recommend to put the boot drive on the fastest hardware which most likely is SCSI. And I also recommend to use the fastest file system for the boot drive. Actually there is no reason to use different file systems. If you chose PFS as your preferred file system, you should use it for all partitions.
In the special case of the T-Rex using a third-party file system is a bit difficult because the T-Rex does not read file systems from its RDB. Therefore you need a harddrive with a PFS partition on another controller which is initialized before the T-Rex. Which is quite easy if you already have a drive on the internal IDE bus.
You only need to keep in mind that the PFS partitons on the T-Rex will stop working if you remove the IDE drive.
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@Boing-ball I am not happy with what you write. That AmigaOS prefers IDE is only by coincidence. The OS will initialize drivers in the order they appear in the resident modules list. In order to build the resident modules list it will first scan the Kickstart ROM for resident tags and then add expansions from the Zorro bus. Hence mainboard periphals will be initialized before third-party expansions.
Each driver on initialization will scan its hardware for partitioned harddrives and read the partition tables. It will add all partitions into a list to be mounted by dos.library and all bootable partitions into a list of boot nodes, ordered by boot priority. It will also read required file systems from the RDB and add them to filesystem.resource if not already present or present with a lower version.
Therefore if a later driver will encounter a third-party file system on one of its partitions it might benefit from an earlier driver which has already loaded this file system.
Only when all drivers have been initialized, dos.library is started, will mount all partitions from the mount list and start booting from the first node in the boot list. This means that the boot priority does not have any influence on whether a partition is mounted or not, it only determines which partition is used for booting.
Also 5 is in no way reserved for the floppy drive, it is only hardcoded. But nothing hinders you to set your partition to 5, too. It just won't boot because the floppy drive is checked first.
Valid boot priorities range from -127 to 127 while -128 means not bootable. You can indeed set your partition to a higher value than 5 to prohibit floppy booting (you can still select the floppy drive in the early startup menu).
I would always recommend to put the boot drive on the fastest hardware which most likely is SCSI. And I also recommend to use the fastest file system for the boot drive. Actually there is no reason to use different file systems. If you chose PFS as your preferred file system, you should use it for all partitions.
In the special case of the T-Rex using a third-party file system is a bit difficult because the T-Rex does not read file systems from its RDB. Therefore you need a harddrive with a PFS partition on another controller which is initialized before the T-Rex. Which is quite easy if you already have a drive on the internal IDE bus.
You only need to keep in mind that the PFS partitons on the T-Rex will stop working if you remove the IDE drive.
I stand corrected.
But from my initial experience using a A1200 and A4000D and having both an IDE and SCSI setups (WarpEngine and Cyberstorm). If I plug into a IDE device and a SCSI device, then always I find the IDE device will always startup first. Unless a Floppy Disk is inserted first.
This is true for when I use a Zip750 as an IDE device with Boot priority = “0” and a SCSI SD card again boot priority = “0”.
Or a IDE SD and a SCSI SD card in both drives. Again IDE SD boots first.
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What I said: mainboard first, expansions next.
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UPDATE!
The GVP T-REX-II SCSI ignores any custom file systems added to the RDB of the SCSI drive. It also has issues with the 4GB barrier.
Replacing the ROM solves problems, but I can't do that myself, I don't have access to any burning gear. Two work-arounds are available though:
1) Put PFS3AIO (or other custom file system) on my CF boot drive, on the A4000 IDE bus, and set up at least one partition to use PFS3AIO.
2) Make sure to use the Direct-SCSI option in the Advanced settings of HDToolBox (I'm using AmigaOS 3.2.2.1). With this setting, the GVP T-REX-II SCSI can use FFS partitions above the 4GB barrier. With step 1, this will make PFS3AIO usable on the GVP SCSI drive.
For my A4000 set-up, this solved my problem. I was able to create partitions above the 4GB barrier and use PFS3AIO (or FFS) on my T-REX-II SCSI drive. The T-REX-II SCSI also needs proper termination.
Thanks for your help and suggestions.
Jaeson