PFS3 is soon to become free and opensource

[Franko]

Please straighten me out about non FFS files systems. They are:

1. not in ROM (obvious)
2. must be installed / created on the harddrive they will rule.

That right?

1. Correct
2. They can either be installed in the RDB of the HD or placed in the L directory
 

[Franko]

FS on the hard drive just seems volatile to me. Simply, harddrives are corruptible. When it starts to go bad the whole thing just becomes a black hole. Well, I know I have been through that, power cut offs, harddrive is messed up.

It won't help you having the FS in the rom if the hard drive goes kaput, you'll still have lost your data. The handy thing about having it stored on the RDB or in L is that it's easy to upgrade if a new version is released.

I've been using SFS for quite a number of years and haven't lost a single bit of data with it or had it crash or lock up on me...

[Franko]

And maybe you can answer this, how often is a FS stored on disk accessed as the machine does regular CRUD operations? Or is it moved into memory?/QUOTE]

Hi TheGoose...

If your HD fails so badly then whether the FS is in ROM or on the RDB your still going to need some other method of booting up to try and recover it eg:a floppy disk with appropriate recovery tools.

If it's a minor fail then it really make no difference whether the FS is in ROM or on the RDB. The only advantage I can see with having the FS on the RDB or in L is as I have said before, the ability to easily update it when/if a new version is released.

So the major disadvantage of having the FS in the ROM is the lack of ability to easy update it. Now I think about it all of the FS I use are on the RDB or in the L drawer (even FFS) as the versions I use are the latest one's ever released and aren't available on a Kickstart ROM.

Once the FS system is read at bootup as part of the bootup sequence it's basically stored in ram and so no further disk accessing is needed for the actual FS code while you use your Amiga.

Other than that it's up to you which way you think would suit yourself best...