Bigger Than 4GB HD Issues ...

[drwho]

Hello Folks,

I don't know if this is as much a question, as a way to start a thread to discuss dealing with this type of problem, but, I'll just throw it out there.

So, I have the A2000 which I run OS 1.3 on, I know that the OS is ancient, but, I really like it. The system has 2 2MB memory boards and an A2091 SCSI controller with no memory on it and 7.0 ROMs.

I have a 4.3GB Seagate HD on the card, which *shouldn't* be an issue with the 7.0 ROMs, as far as I know.

I have the HD broken up into two partitions, DH0: and DH1:, and anytime anything goes wrong that has to do with the second partition, I get the whole problem of the drive either reading 100% full or 0% full, which are both completely bogus, and the volume won't validate and I get errneous read/write errors.

Now, fixing this is not an issue. I pop in QB tools and I let it run for what seems like days and the problem gets fixed, until the next time it happens.

Since I don't have the cash to go out and buy a smaller size SCSI drive and I am getting a little tired of having to eat up valuable R-Type II, Datastorm and Dungeon Master game time fixing the volume, I am wondering if maybe some folks can suggest, or we can all discuss possible ways to avoid this problem with the drive I already have. Maybe someone out there has a similar configuration and knows how to prevent this from happening?

Sorry for the long post. ;-D

Thanks,
Mike

[Brian]

The second partision... does it break through the 2Gb barrier and/or the 4GB barrier? The filesystem does mess up some when handling partisions over 2GB and if both partisions together goes over the 4GB barrier you risk write sessions for the second partision wraps onto the beginning of the first which results in the RDB being overwritten = bad.

Suggest you partision it into partisions less than 2GB and let the last what 200MB be unused on the harddrive.

[lazyeye]

i know this is an old post but i wonder if the fix suggested to you drwho worked or not ? :-)

[SamuraiCrow]

It should work assuming that a 4 gig drive is what you've got.  If you've got a drive that is much larger, you may have to consider the other option.

The other option is to upgrade to a Kickstart 3.1 ROM (simililar in concept to the BIOS on a PC) and install a 64-bit filesystem (such as the ones included with AmigaOS 3.5 and 3.9) on the second partition and keep the first partition small so the Kickstart will recognize it at boot time.

[Thomas]

have a 4.3GB Seagate HD on the card, which *shouldn't* be an issue with the 7.0 ROMs, as far as I know.

I have the HD broken up into two partitions, DH0: and DH1:,

Make sure that both partition are smaller than 2GB and that not a single byte beyond the 4GB border of the drive is used.

One can only repeat again and again: the 4GB limit applies to drives, not to partitions. Partitions can be as big as they fit on the drive, but the drive has to be smaller than 4GB. You should use the FastFileSystem of WB 3.1, even on Kick 1.3, though, as the FastFileSystem of WB 1.3 might have more limits (might be 2GB partition size or even less).

Using partitions larger than the limit will give you the problems you described above. Creating partitions outside the first 4GB of the drive will give you even worse problems (up to complete data loss).

Bye,
Thomas

[lazyeye]

i am getting ready to get some version 7.0 roms i have KS 2.04 in the 2000 right now, so i was wondering if i picked up a 4.3 - 4.5 gb drive then partitioned it to 2  1.98GB partitions, i should be fine right ? if i understand the last post right that is okay , but to try and get more then 4 gb on the drive is nothing but trouble ? even if one has a 64bit filesystem?

[Brian]

Do like this: Make one partision and move the slider until it changes from xGB to xMB, then you know you've gone over the limit. Now go into advanced and lower the "End cyl" until it goes back to xGB, when it does that lower it 2 cyl more. now create a partision in the unused "above space limit" area. That done remove first partision and make the partisions as you like knowing you'll never go trough the 4GB barrier and when done partisioning remove the last "above space limit" one and you're done. To avoid issues with FFS reporting negative partision size you still have to avoid >2GB partision though.

[Thomas]

even if one has a 64bit filesystem?

There is no 64bit filesystem for the Amiga yet (except SFS version 2.3). These "64 bit" mentioned in TD64 or NSD_TD64 by PFS3, SFS or FFS Version 44+ refer to the commands used to access blocks on the drive. These commands are sent to the device driver (the firmware of the HDD controller). If the device driver does not support these commands, then the file system can still not access the area outside the first 4GB of the drive.

So you need both, a file system using 64 bit commands and a device driver understanding 64 bit commands (more precisely: the same 64 bit commands as there are different command sets).

I don't know if the A2091 supports 64 bit commands and if it does, which command set (TD64 or NSD). If it supports TD64, you can use PFS3 or SFS, if it supports NSD you can use FFS V44+ or SFS. As it is a SCSI controller, it probably also supports SCSI commands. If so, you can also use PFS3ds or FFSTD64 (patch available on Aminet), but not SFS.

If any of the mentioned combinations work, it is no problem to use HDDs up to 2TB with partitions of 100GB and more.

Also the usual patch-combination of a <2GB boot partition which loads NSDPatch to access the other partitions will probably work, but only with Kick 2.0 or higher.

Bye,
Thomas