Just bought GVP HD8+ hard drive!

[Zetr0]

If I could offer any help or perhaps an alternative I would recommend the following -

4.3GB Fujistu SCA80 £9.99 inc delivery (eBay.co.uk BIN)


and this adaptor

50 /68 / 80 SCA SCSI adaptor £2.69 including postage (eBay.co.uk BIN)


This combination works for me on my GVP HC8 and HD500 setups.  It also works on my GVP Combi 040 and A590.

Limitations

I have done a lot of setups using the GVP based devices and I have noted some limitations - as to why they are they I am unsure.

While the GVP HC8 can find pretty much any properly terminated device on the SCSI chain, I have found a limitation of use to 3.67GB of storage (without a Guru ROM)

I have found that should I have say a partition setup outside a 3.67GB area it is not mounted and unusable. If I have a partition that spans past this 3.67GB barrier most of the time its not mounted (and unusable) but on the very odd occasion that it is all writing to that partition is corrupted.

I have tested this under FFS / SFS and NSD - (have not tested this with PFS3)

On my A590 however (using SFS / NSD and Version 7 ROM a full 8.1GB HDD works flawlessly)

If you are ever to buy a SCS HDD, remember to ensure that it is LVD and or SE - do not buy HVD based SCSI drive as this simply will not work for you.

[Zetr0]

@AmigaBruno

Hello there, my apologies for perhaps confusing you with detail, I will try and clear this up for you.  but first if I may, I would not recommend those 80MB SCSI HDD's at that price - it is also touch and go if it fitted within the GVP HD8+ casing.  To be sincerely honest, I would sooner send you a prepared one for postage cost before I let you suffer those prices.

I should also mention that POWER is very important here, the original GVP A500HD8+ provides 4amps on the +5 rail buy ONLY 0.5amps on the +12v rail.  if you try to run a HDD that requires more +12 volt power (like newer SCSI drives) you will destroy the PSU.

Please check your GVP Power Supply, if you are unsure - just take a picture and post it here I am sure either I or a fellow member can help.

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Now, In ALL my experiments the GVP controller (without GURU-ROM) appears limited to only being able to access 3.67GB of data storage.  It can see larger drives and with HDToolsBox you can even create partitions - however any partition that is outside the first 3.67GB does not mount, nor does any partition that spans past this amount.

I.e. Partition HD3: size of [ 1.1GB ] starting at 3GB to 4.1GB spans past this 3.67GB clipping area.  I am unsure why, I have been informed that this should not be, however I have tried many disks and many GVP controllers and the above holds true for the following -

Geforce - 040 / Combi 040
Impact A2000 HC
Impact A2000 HC Series II
Impact A2000 HC+8 Series II
Impact A500 HD8+ Series II

I have tried the above on various A2000 / A4000 motherboards as well as an A3000 motherboard.

Now, this isn't a problem, after all one could have a couple of disks and that should easily be most Amiga software published - most certainly all of the best software.

That aside, its very easy to set up a large hard disk to only use the first 3.67GB of space.  I would be more than happy to help you - it maybe daunting at first - but once you get the hang of it - it truly is easy.

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Now, FFS or Fast File System (available with KS2.x) can partition up to 4GB of data in one fat chunk however with the GVP controller this can cause problems, so I would suggest perhaps two or three partitions something like

DH0: 512MB (System) - Workbench Install
DH1: 2.1GB (Games)
DH2: 1GB (Work)

This will certainly give you a great start to getting the most from your A500.  I purchased a couple of PC SCSI cards so I could prepare HardDisks on my PC under WinUAE - its much MUCH quicker - if you would like I can help you with your hard-disk.

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Now a little more information that I think will help you.

SFS - Smart File System
This allows for VERY large partition, 128GB I believe, it also requires a minimum 020 processor - however CPU aside it is 20% faster access than FFS.

PFS3 - Professional File System 3
Now open source (for the most part) PFS3 supports larger Hard Disks as well as large Partition sizes (about 100GB) - it also has optimizations for stock 68000 CPU's all the way up to 040 and 060 processors.  Like SFS, PFS3 also provides a speed boost in both accessing the device and transferring data.  However this increase is down to the controller, the device and the CPU of the host system.

NSD - New Style Device
This is an older method now - however a lot of devices support this interface (some by a little hacking) to allow direct commands to the device.  this allows for larger disk sizes to be supported.


There, I hope that helps, if there is anything thats too complicated or you would like more detail on, please just ask =)

[Zetr0]

@AmigaBruno

Hello there,  looking at the specification of you PSU (its identical to mine)

5volts at 2amps
12 volts at 0.5 amps

This sadly reduces the options available for what Hard-Disks you can use.  So before you buy make sure you ask the seller what power requirements the device has - should that they exceed either 5 volt or 12 amperage - then you should avoid these devices.

I would be happy to prepare you a 4.1GB Viking - free just the cost of postage which would be under a £5 for shipping within the UK.  I could possibly throw in a spare SCA80 adapter as well for cost - i.e. you can just refund me the ebay price for a new one.

I will say that the Drive I have here requires more amps on the +12 volt so might not be good for you at the moment - alternatively you could look at upgrading your GVP A500HD8 power supply to an ATX or mATX PSU.



This is the pin-out for the GVP A500HD8+ Power Supply / Cable, if you have a few moments with a soldering iron - one can easily interface this with an ATX or mATX power supply.

I hope that helps.

[Zetr0]

@AmigaBruno

I am sorry to confuse you - sadly I have a lot of data in my head that I try to make easy to read - sadly I fail sometimes.

1. I have a spare 4.1GB Viking SCSI hard disk.
2. This Hard Disk has an SCA80 connector - thus needs an adaptor to work with the GVP
3. I *may* have a spare SCA80 to SCA50 / SCA68 that you can have - but I would like a replacement for it.  The SCA adaptor I linked to above is the same adaptor and would suffice as a replacement.
4. I would be happy to prepare this Hard Disk for you and you can have it free - just the cost of postage - which in the UK is £5
5. To use larger / newer Hard Disks you will most likely need to upgrade your GVP A500HD power supply - as newer drives use more amps on the +12volt line and your PSU wont be able to supply that demand.


Alternatively

I have here a 200MB or so 50 pin SCSI hard Disk that I have just retrieved from storage - it came out of my other GVP A500HD. it is already configured for Workbench 2.0.  You would be welcome to this for the cost of postage - again about £5.

[Zetr0]

@AmigaBruno

OK, now we're getting somewhere! Unfortunately, I need to ask you about point 5.

"To use larger / newer Hard Disks you will most likely need to upgrade  your GVP A500HD power supply - as newer drives use more amps on the  +12volt line and your PSU wont be able to supply that demand".

Does this refer to the Viking 4.1Gb hard disk which you're offering me?

Yes the Viking 4.1GB HDD that I have offered requires more power than the standard GVP A500HD Power Supply can provide.

If so, would I need the following device, possibly with an adaptor or new plug spliced onto it http://www.vesalia.de/d_mstechmsn750val.htm ? It doesn't matter if you don't understand the German description, what does matter is the price of EUR43.99.

That power supply is some what over kill, you could use any mATX or ATX PSU.

Evo EM-400 SFX (mATX) £15.49 (inc postage) ebay BIN


You can use any ATX / mATX power supply - even a reclaimed one from a PC.  you will have to wire up a power-swtich and obviously the cable to the GVP A500HD+8

Also I should point out even a 100watt PSU would have enough power to provide the A500 and the GVP side card with all that it needs.

As for the offer under "Alternatively", that sounds like a much better bet, because I already know that it's compatible with my unit. The £5 sounds like a bargain, or at least money I can afford to waste after spending £70.01 on this unit 2 weeks ago.

I like to help were I can, I have no need for this Hard Disk and its only sitting on a shelf now - so its yours for postage instead of collecting dust - I think its a 240MB HDD off the top of my head.

Please can you tell me anything about the error messages I listed in my last post? What do they indicate?

I found that Faaastprep is not all that good a program to be honest.  I would suggest the use of HDTools / HDTools Box to configure a HDD, even a SCSI one on a GVP product.

You should be able to use a Workbench 3.0 install disk - this has HDToolsBox program available - I dont believe it needs 3.0 Kickstart - I will test this under emulation later to see if this is the case.

I hope that helps.

[Zetr0]

[update]

I can confrim that with Kickstart 2.0 you can use a Workbench 3.0 or 3.1 Install Disk to prepare your hard-drive.

you will find the program in HDTools directory.

[Zetr0]

PM replied to, will pack up the drive this afternoon and get you a shipping quote - Payment by PayPal is fine =)