Why cant I format my CF Card on a500+

[paul1981]

Interesting, that worked and I can now boot both my CF Cards using both my CF-IDE Adapters (not at the same time of course) but it's painfully slow to startup, takes a good 4-5 mins?

Hmm, if that's FFS you're using then I suspect it was validating the disk... that would have made it take ages to boot. You can combat that with a "ValidateWait" like program such as this one:

http://aminet.net/package/util/cli/ValidateWait

If you're using any form of PFS or SFS then that was definitely not your problem as those filesystems don't have that issue.
So, after Workbench had finally appeared what was the speed like?

[paul1981]

Looks like SFS and PFS require a 68020 so that rules them out, looks like Im stuck with FFS for now.

I wonder why it's so slow on my real miggy, using WinUAE and a 500+ HW profile (including 1mb chip & 8mb fast ram) it's very responsive by comparison.

This version of PFS doesn't require a 68020, and it's KS1.3 compatible (yes, has 68000 DirectSCSI version included):
http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3ks13

I use it on two A600's with 20GB Toshiba 2.5" drives, both 68000 and KS2.0 and it works brilliantly.
PFS eats more RAM than FFS, so I only have one Partition (my machines are only 2MB fast). Also, minimum amount of buffers required for PFS is 70, which is what I use and it's fine.

Backtracking a bit to your original problem, if a disk is validating then you'll just have to wait for it to complete, or it will never complete (may take ages depending on partition size). When your Workbench screen appears, select your partition that you suspect to be validating, and select Icon Information. It will tell you there under Disk State "Validating" or "Read/Write". If it's validating, let it complete. It's finally complete when the drive access light goes out (assuming your floppy drive light on your A500 light is wired as hard drive light as well).

Edit: Almost forgot to mention, validating a partition requires a certain amount of memory, dependant on partition size (larger partition = more memory required). I don't know the numbers involved unfortunately, I just remember reading about it. But yes, I'd move to PFS3 for sure.

[paul1981]

Cheers, I'll have a go tonight.

If your fast ram is not AutoConfig ram, then my guess is that the validate procedure will fail simply because it starts validating before you add the memory with the "autoaddram" command... basically the validate procedure won't see the extra ram that you probably need to successfully validate the partition.
One option would be to disable it in the early bootmenu and then mount the partition later (after you run the autoaddmem command)...or something similar along those lines. Then as soon as the partition is mounted (manually), it will start validating and your 8MB fast will already be in the memory list...therefore it should validate. Again though, go the PFS3 route and discard everything I've said.

[paul1981]

Arrrgh, got one of my 4GB CF cards working perfectly in WinUAE with PFS3 (not DS - dunno what the diff is either) using ClassicWB on a 500mb system part with a 3.3GB Data part and it wont boot in my real miggy! :confused:

I get the drive clicking in 15seconds (vs 2mins with FFS) and I see HDD activity for about 1 min with a black screen then HDD activity stops and nothing happens!

Should I be using PFS3-DS or is this a case of having 2x partitions with buffers of 300 each doesnt work with my current non-autoconfig 8mb ram (i have 1mb chip)?

Boot from your Workbench disk, load HDToolBox and check that the MaxTransfer setting for each partition is set to 0x1fe00, and then save the changes.
There's a "Large Hardrive Support" drawer in classicwb I believe, and also a youtube video somewhere that tells you how to enable it (you'll need this for your 2nd partition to work correctly as it's above 2GB). Or as an alternative, use PFSDS (direct scsi version from the pfs3ks13 package).

[paul1981]

about long filenames, there is a util for pfs3 (setfnsize) to increase the filename size. but you can't decrease it afterwards.

I think it's his old Workbench that's struggling with the long file names, not the filesystem (he's on PFS3 now). Best thing would be to rename all long files, and Workbench will truncate the names to what it can deal with.