2.5" harddisk question

[orange]

There is also PFS3 but it does not work with OS3.9 if IDEfix is not installed, too.

but Thomas, PFS3direct_scsi seems to work just fine on A4000,80Gb IDE,KS3.1, builtin IDE port   without any extra software like IDEfix?

[Thomas]

Yes, PFS3ds should work with OS3.9's scsi.device.

Bye,
Thomas

[McVenco]

My Amiga knowledge seems to be even more rusty than I already expected.... I've downloaded HDInstTools and SFS, but now I don't know how to format my HD with SFS. I can partition my drive, but how do I select SFS to be the filesystem of choice?

[Flashlab]

RTFM!

No seriously in the SFS docs is a really easy to follow step by step guide.

[McVenco]

No seriously in the SFS docs is a really easy to follow step by step guide.

Then I really need better glasses. Or a bigger monitor.

Anyway, I'll look again :oops: (shoots himself)

[motorollin]

TjLaZer wrote:
Depends what OS you are using.  If you are using 3.1 or below you can use a HD up to 4GB no problems.  4GB and up will need a patched device driver and tools that can handle the larger drive.

That's not true. Any size drive will work, but without the patched scsi.device and FFS/SFS, you can only use 4GB of it.

TjLaZer wrote:
OS 3.9 will be able to handle almost and 2.5" HD.  I would get a 20GB or 40GB to be safe.  The problem you will have is getting it partitioned and setup properly.  With some of the newer larger drives you will need to boot from a WB 3.9 disk to get it setup properly.

Also incorrect. If you boot from OS3.9 just to partition the drive then boot back in to OS3.1, it may appear to work, but when you start writing above the 4GB barrier it will wrap around to the beginning of the drive and trash the RDB. Bye bye partition table...

TjLaZer wrote:
If you use a 3.1 disk it may not see it correctly.  You can also try HDInstTools from Aminet

Won't make any difference unless you have patched scsi.device/FFS/SFS.

TjLaZer wrote:
Do not use HDToolBox from 3.1 or 3.0.

...unless you're using 3.1 or 3.0 :roll:

--
moto

[McVenco]

I *think* I have it properly installed now. Used HDInstTools to put SFS into the RDB and partition the drive. According to the SFS docs a Quick Format should be enough and I must say that everything seems to work. However, since I used the standard WB format it seems to be formatted with FFS. I tried to use SFSformat, but it gave an error "error while initializing the drive: packet request unknown"

I tried to partition the drive with HDToolBox and formatted with FFS but then only the last formatted partition works. If I format only DH0: that will be readable, but if I format DH1: after that DH0: becomes corrupt.

Can anyone shed any light in this perhaps?

[Thomas]

If I format only DH0: that will be readable, but if I format DH1: after that DH0: becomes corrupt.

This is the typical indication that the HDD driver is not able to handle more than 4GB.

It is like Motorollin wrote: you have to use an updated scsi.device *and* an updated file system. If one of the two parts is at a lower level, access to the HDD will not work correctly.

That it lets you format the partition above 4GB shows that you are using a bad version of FFS.

To check everything before you format partitions, please get Check4GB from Aminet, run it and post its output here. It will tell us which filesystems and which versions are used.

Bye,
Thomas

[McVenco]

Thomas wrote:
you have to use an updated scsi.device

Where is that to be found? I searched Aminet, but I only found updates for use with turboboards (030+), and I have none at the moment.

[Thomas]

It is contained in OS3.9. As you want to use OS3.9 anyway, you shouldn't bother with some difficult-to-install patches but rather install OS3.9 at once.

The boot partition has to be inside the first 4GB of the HDD anyway, so you can use it to install 3.0/3.1 and CD-ROM drivers and create an OS3.9 emergency disk (if you don't yet have an emergency disk for OS3.9). Then boot from the emergency disk, it will load OS3.9 from the CD.

Then use OS3.9's HDToolbox to repartition the drive. This time make sure the correct file systems (FFS version 44+ or SFS) are listed in the Add/Update menu and that the partitions are associated with the correct file system in the Change menu.

Bye,
Thomas