SCSI to Flash adapters + pre-loaded ECS WB?

[blakespot]

I have an A2000 '020 with a spinning SCSI disc. I purchased, 8 years ago, a SCSI to CF adapter that did not work properly. Massive headache.

Can someone point me to a SCSI to Flash adapter that would work with my GVP SCSI+8 card?

Also, is there a source for a 4GB CF card to use with that is pre-loaded with a nice WB config? I see lots of eBay items like this but hard to tell. Anyone with such a setup who can respond or PM me, I'd appreciate.

I just purchased a Sony PVM to replace my dead 1084S and I have the cables coming to US from Europe to make it work. I want to get the system sorted before this.

Many thanks. 020 + WHDLoad is a great combo for ECS 2000.


bp

[blakespot]

Cracked her open, having some fun up front...

https://twitter.com/blakespot/status/753049253732286468

[blakespot]

Actually I'm not using the GVP HD+8 for SCSI. Using SCSI on the Commodore 68020 board. FWIW.

[blakespot]

Not CF, but these things work very nicely. The v5 boards are available from AmigaKit, eBay, and a few other vendors. Not sure anyone's tried the new v6 boards yet.

I just ordered one. Thank you!


bp

[blakespot]

I just received that SCSI2SD v5 that was suggested. It came w/ a 4GB card.

I want to add it to the chain on my GVP Impact Series II and copy the contents of my 2GB HD to it. Any advice on formatting this 4GB card? Partitioning?

I have KS/WB 3.1. Thanks. Hoping do this in a few hours (wife out of town!).



bp

[blakespot]

Thanks Matt_H.

Do I want to leave the sector size (512 bytes) the default in scsi2sd-util settings? For general should I enable Unit Attention? SCSI 2? Parity?

Do I want to use PFS3AIO? I have felt the pain of frequent volume verifications on HDs in FFS. I have no desire to go > 4GB partitions, maybe several 4GB via multi Devices emulated.

I have a 4GB SD. Going out to get an 8 or 16GB before I get started, so I can expand later if I need to, right now.

I am using the GVP HC+8 Impact Series II SCSI controller in this A2000 '020. Any other tips before I get started?

I just use HDToolkit in AmigaDOS to format / partiotion on Amiga side?

Tnx.



bp

[blakespot]

So I have this GVP SCS controller an my only spinning disk is SCSI ID 6.

I setup the SCSI2SD on my Mac with three SCSI devices: 1GB, 2GB, 2GB at SCSI IDs 1, 2, 3. I boot 3.1 on my spinning disk and use GVP's FaaastSCSI setup app to partition and format the three new "drives." I named them DH0:, DH1:, DH2:.

I notice that DH0: is not mounted, but DH1: and DH2: are and they contain mount lists from the GVP setup util.

My current spinning disk partitions are called SDH0:, SDH1:, SDH2: (yes, that's the name of the DISK partitions).

So, I reboot and am told DH0: is not a DOS disk. Can't get past that. It's formatted, but there are no files on it. Odd that it would say not a DOS disk. So I'm thinking AmigaDOS must either boot a DH0: if present first, OR the lowest SCSI ID disk. I am not sure which.

So, I think I should rename the partitions I've setup to avoid (maybe) the conflict and so I pull the SCSI2SD off the Amiga, take it to the Mac. I then, SD card in the mac SD reader, FORMAT the SD card. I then setup the same config on the sd config app on the Mac (SD card in the SCSI2SD, it usb cabled to the Mac now). I then plop it back into the Amiga on the SCSI chain and boot.

I get a command prompt, no error. Disk SDH0: is not booting into workbench as it was before, which seems odd as the SD card has been formatted and re-configuired. So I do INFO and see that DH1: and DH2: are still there...I dir them and see the mount list files are still there!!!  I formatted that SD card in the MAC to FAT32 and then re-configured with SCS2SD util, and the files are still there!! How can that be?

So a number of issues I am now facing. But the first -- how, beyond FORMATTING the SD card in question, can I get the SCSI2SD to "start fresh"? Somehow I cannot imagine, the partitions are still there and readable after format.

Then I need to figure out why the old SDH0: isn't booting. Also -- nowhere in GVP FaaastSCSI util was there a boot-disk option for a partition. Boot priorities, which I set to 0 for all, as they are set for the 3 partitions on the spinning disk.

Ugh. Help? Thanks.



bp

[blakespot]

Thanks.

But how do I "clear" my SCSI2SD? I FORMATTED the SD card in the Mac but the partitions remained with data!



bp

[blakespot]

Ok - I think I'm almost set here. Asking for a little more advice - thanks.

So, it seems to be the case that folks feel FaaastPrep is pretty bad / old software (dated 1991). I used FaaastPrep to partition and format the three SCSI volumes on the SCSI2SD (1GB, 2GB, 2GB). (FaaastPrep Guru'ed when I pointed it's attention to a 4GB partition...)

So, I thought I would take the advice here and go use HDToolBox under 3.1. So I went in there to Partition Drive and found I cannot delete the single existing partition that occupies 100% of each "drive." I select current partition click Delete and get a screen flash/beep. I wanted to delete the partitions are re-create the same partitions with HDToolBox, in case things were not well handled in FaaastPrep, it being apparently a poor utility. But, I can't seem to delete the partitions.

So, I re-formatted the boot partition (FDH0: (1GB)) and copied (CLONE ALL) my spinning boot volume to it, set boot priority to SCSI2HD "drive" higher than old boot disk, and it boots up fine. The other two partitions are to be used for apps and another for games and demos.

So...am I ok as is, FaaastPrep having partitioned them, or should I find some way to blow everything away and start over with HDToolBox? I've posted screenshots of the boot disk and a data disk in HDToolBox, showing its current settings, and a screenshot of FaaastPrep showing how it sees the boot partition.

Someone mentioned I should make sure to set Rigid Disk Blocks, but in neither util do I see any option related to RDB. Is this a problem? Using Fast File System here.

Please advise how I should proceed -- as is, or go back and blow away? Thanks.


GVP FaaastPrep software by Blake Patterson, on Flickr

HDToolBox under AmigaOS 3.1 by Blake Patterson, on Flickr

HDToolBox under AmigaOS 3.1 by Blake Patterson, on Flickr



bp

[blakespot]

According to the author's page, v6 is supposed to be considerably faster. Once it gets out of beta I'll probably grab one (or two ).

My GVP Impact Series II controller is capable of 3.5MB/sec transfer only. Would I see v6 speed difference vs. my current v5?


bp

[blakespot]

If you want to make sure all traces of FaaastPrep's work are gone, use HDToolbox to reinstall the drive. That will re-read the device parameters and give you a fresh RDB (partition mapping table). Can't remember the exact name of the button, but it's the one in the upper left when you start HDToolbox.

Just fired HDToolBox up on my SAM from the Workbench1.3 dir under Emulation/. Change Drive Type is top left button. That it? Tnx.



bp

[blakespot]

Ok guys,

So I choose one of the new "drives" in HDToolBox and at first there's just the Seagate spinning disk, so I read config.

Eh -- here let me post a video. I'm trying to delete the drive type (new, scsi2sd / codesrc) right? I can't seem to without also deleting the Seagate drive type. Have a look:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnxxLDhIliQ


Suggestions / course? Thanks guys.


bp

[blakespot]

Those are just wires to my HxC2001 display. Unseen when box is closed!

[blakespot]

Hmm. So what should I do to start fresh and eliminate any remnants of what FaaastPrep may have done?

So I can setup and move on. Thanks.

[blakespot]

Got it all setup.

Fixed HxC2001 issue, got 3 volumes on SCSI2SD. Rolling!

https://flic.kr/p/JSkZEL

Thanks for the help, guys. Waiting for a cable and the newly acquired Sony PVM will be my main display.



bp