Format A4000 HD (40 Gig)

[xrcxj]

http://www.amiga.org/images/subject/icon9.gif
First let me say this is a somewhat complex to explain but bear with me.  I have an A4000 OS3.9/ 3.1 ROM, 18/RAM, 40 Gig HD, Oktagon SCSI board, Newtek Video Toaster 3.1 & 4.3 and a CD ROM drive....

  Ready?   I had the A4000 shipped for repairs to the states two years ago.  I live in Japan.  They had up-graded it for me from the 3.0 ROM to the 3.1 ROM, and included a floppy boot disk for OS3.9 and the CD install disk OS3.9.   They had put a 7 Gig hard drive in.   It came back fine, but I messed something up with the Video Toaster.   (Newtek) said the VT had never been tested with OS3.9...

   I re-installed the 3.0 six floppies after I had trashed the 7 Gig hard drive.
Now, every time I try to install.  I get about half way and it comes up saying "not enough space"  It shows there's only 3 megs...so without being able to install, I can't connect my CD ROM drive, (no space for ASIM) thus I can't format either using the original A4000 3.0 floppy install disks nor can or the new OS3.9 CD disk.

    The smallest hard drive here in Japan is 40 Gigs ($45.00)  and I suppose soon the smallest will be 100 Gigs.  

  And since I can't format, I can't install what is needed to run the Video Toaster CD to get that up and running too.  I did try to re-format and the new 40G HD did show up in the specs, but when I went to SAVE.  A requestor would come up saying there was no space to save the Config.   My Amiga user brother said that I need to get a new file system to format a disk that's more than a few gigs.

   Any ideas about the above mentioned?

And a few more questions for you Amigans...

Will the Video Toaster run on the 3.1 ROM?  Or shall I ask how good?
It seems as if my floppy disk drive is worn out/old, and sometimes takes time to see the floppy disk.  Can I just buy a new one?  (Remember I'm in Japan and there's no Amiga stuff here anymore).  

   Is there a board that would be compatible with the Toaster and would give me more SPEED & RAM and might have more scsi connections?  The Oktagon SCSI board is just to connect the CD ROM drive and Zip drive anyway.   I'd really appreciate any assistance or ideas or help with this.  

  I can put floppy's in and the Amiga works from the RAM.  Mand2000 etc.

My future plan is to be able to use the Video Toaster with an analog line connected to a DV Canopus ADVC-100 which would allow me to bring in the Toaster thru to my Mac...

    cheers and good day....

 

   
 

[Thomas]

Well, your description lacks most of the needed information, i.e. a step-by-step guide what you did with which version of which program and at which step you got the error message and which program issued it.

Nevertheless I'll try to tell you the steps to install a HDD:

1. write down the drive geometry specified on the hdd label (heads, sectors and cylinders).

1a. the multiplication of heads * sectors * cylinders * 512 should give the drive size in bytes (i.e. ca. 40 billions). If it is much less (e.g. 8 billions) and the number of cylinders is one less than a power of two (e.g. 16384), this is a fake for old PC BIOSes. In this case you have to visit the manufacturer's homepage and get the real drive geometry.

2. connect the drive to whatever controller you want to use it with.

3. boot your Amiga from floppy disk. Use either the OS3.0 Install disk or the OS3.9 emergency boot disk. The latter should load the CD-ROM driver and boot OS3.9 from CD.

4. run HDToolbox

5. choose your HDD and go to "Install drive".

5a. with the 3.0 version of HDToolbox you now have to define a new drive type.

6. click on "Read Configuration". Check that the configuration matches the one of step 1 and check that the drive size (cylinders * blocks per cylinder * 512) matches your expectatons.

6a. if the geometry does not match, correct it manually. The value of "blocks per cylinder" is just the multiplication of heads * sectors. It should be ca. 1000 for OS3.0 or 2000 for OS3.9. And blocks is the same as sectors.

7. click on save

8. return to the main menu and choose "Partition drive"

9. create one small partition in the beginning of the HDD. Small means less then 1GB. You don't need more for the boot drive. It *must* be smaller than 4GB.

9a. make the partition bootable. In the 3.0 HDToolbox you have to activate "advance options" for that.

10. click on Save to return to the main menu. With the 3.0 version of HDToolbox you also have to click on "Save changes to drive".

11. exit HDToolbox and reboot from floppy again. Not format the partition.

12. now you can install AmigaOS on the empty partition.

You may also add some more partitions. With AmigaOS 3.0 you must not use more than the first 4GB of the drive. With AmigaOS 3.9 you can use the entire drive.

On any partition past the 4GB border you have to use "Quick" format.

To check if your setup is correct for large HDDs you can use the CheckHD program which is in the Check4GB archive on Aminet.

Bye,
Thomas

[T3000]

xrcxj wrote:  
1. Will the Video Toaster run on the 3.1 ROM?  Or shall I ask how good?

2. Is there a board that would be compatible with the Toaster and would give me more SPEED & RAM and might have more scsi connections?  

3. My future plan is to be able to use the Video Toaster with an analog line connected to a DV Canopus ADVC-100 which would allow me to bring in the Toaster thru to my Mac...

1. NewTek didn't officially support the 3.1 rom or os. How ever I have Toaster 4.2 running on a 3.1 rom with os 3.5 and it seems to be fine. Have yet to put it through an entire project yet.

2. NewTek Video Toaster Flyer. Might not give ya more ram but the Flyer works dircetly with the Toaster. Has 3 scsi headers for dedicated drives.

3. See #2 and ya won't need to use the Mac.   :-D


Good luck with the HD problem.  There's plenty of smaller used HDs available on Ebay that should get your system up and running.

[TjLaZer]

I installed a Maxtor 40GB IDE on my 4000 and it worked.  I had to do extra steps though.  To get the full 40 gigs I had to  have OS 3.9 up and running first to run HDToolBox 3.9 to be able to see and partition the newer IDE drives.  Once I did that I partitioned and copied over all the OS to the new drive.  Works a treat.

[xrcxj]

Thanks, I'll try to follow the steps you've provided...
 
  Number # 1./#1A  I'm pretty sure that HDToolbox did recognize the new HDD with the correct settings.

   Number #7 (this is where it wouldn't save)!  "There's not enough space."

I don't have the time now, going to work, I'll keep you informed...

thanks

By the way, you wouldn't possibly be Thomas Rapp who used to play in a band in the 60's "Perals Before Swine"?  later

[xrcxj]

That's good news.  I'm in Japan and HDD's are cheaper than in the USA.
No need to go to a smaller one.  

The Flyer sounds good....thanks

[xrcxj]

Don't have much time now, but thanks for the info.  Let me ask you a question.  Using HDToolbox 3.0 (from floppy) when I try to SAVE (Partition) it says, "Not enough space"  this is my dilemma...I need more space, for some reason the new 40G HDD is recognized, but  shows only kbs for some reason...so 3.0 can't be installed...nor can Asim (to connect the CD ROM) so, therefore I can't use the upgraded OS3.9 CD to run 3.9 Toolbox...

TjLaZer wrote:
I installed a Maxtor 40GB IDE on my 4000 and it worked.  I had to do extra steps though.  To get the full 40 gigs I had to  have OS 3.9 up and running first to run HDToolBox 3.9 to be able to see and partition the newer IDE drives.  Once I did that I partitioned and copied over all the OS to the new drive.  Works a treat.

[TjLaZer]

@xrcxj

HDToolBox 3.0 is just too old to mess with.  Do not even try it.  You are going to have to get OS 3.5+ installed first (or get some custom boot disk that patches the FFS and scsi.device to get the drive recognized). Once the new drive is partitioned properly you can then install OS 3.9 on it (or 3.1 if you like)

There is no easy shortcut around this!  The issue is in 1993 there were no 40GB IDE drives around and the HDToolbox program does not recognize the newer drives.  Bottom line.

(In one case I was able to get HDToolBox 3.1 to give me 4GB on a 20GB Seagate IDE drive.  I was able to install 3.1 on it, then 3.9, but I decided to do the above to actually get the full 20GB.)

[xrcxj]

Well, neither floppy OS3.0  nor Boot-Up floppy for OS3.9 are booting up.  What do I need to do and make sure of before buying a floppy disk drive...?

Don't know if they have any in Japan.

Or is there something, usually it kicks in and there's a sound, but nothing...I've tried a few times now...The disk is not being read that's for sure, nor is the amber light blinking as it usually does on the start-up...

A floppy disk drive problem?

I'm with more time I can get it to kick in but...

[Thomas]

Number # 1./#1A I'm pretty sure that HDToolbox did recognize the new HDD with the correct settings.

Using HDToolbox 3.0 (from floppy) when I try to SAVE (Partition) it says, "Not enough space" this is my dilemma...

Well, some drives report themselves with blocks per cylinders = 1 and number of cylinders = total number of blocks on the drive. As HDToolbox always uses the first two cylinders for the partition table, with this configuration there are only 1024 bytes (two blocks) for it which is far too few.

So you should manually adjust the geometry so that a cylinder has about 1000 or 2000 blocks. Then there should be enough space to save the partition table.

You may also try to reduce the number of cylinders so that the drive actually has only 4GB. Then it should be fully usable on OS3.0. After you upgraded to OS 3.9 you can increase the number of cylinders to reflect the real capacity of the drive. Don't touch any other value but the number of cylinders, or your data will be lost.

Sorry, cannot help you with the floppy problem. Perhaps your floppies are damaged (a virus perhaps) ? Don't you have any other disk (HDD, ZIP, JAZ etc.) which boots up the Amiga ?

Bye,
Thomas

[xrcxj]

Here's my HDD info

Hitachi Deskstar  HDS728040PLAT20PF10  40 G
Configuration
                                  Parallel-ATA                    Serial-ATA
Interface                      ATA 133                       SATA-II 3.0Gb/s
Capacity (GB)1             80 / 40                              
Data heads (physical)    2 / 1                                  
Data disks                        1                                    
Performance
 Data buffer2 (MB)             2 MB                  8 MB (80GB) / 2 MB (40GB)

LBA: 80,418,240 Sectors

Rotational speed (rpm)         7,200                          
Media transfer rate (max. Mbits/sec)  757                
Interface transfer rate (max. MB/sec) 133                  300
Sustained data rate (MB/sec) 61.1 - 29.6 (zone 0 - 29)
Average seek time (ms) (read, typical)3  8.8              
 
At this time Thomas I fear that my FLOPPY DISK DRIVE is not reading the floppies I insert.   Back to square one....I can't get the A4000 (amber light flashes) nor any floppy sound nor disk going.  Even if, 1) I reboot holding both mouse buttons down.

2) Holding down Control R/L Amiga-reboot...

So, now, what's your advice on replacing an A4000 Floppy Disk Drive?

Oops, now it just started to kick in...just a minute.  
The Floppy disk drive starts making sounds, but stops...it's not being read.  Dirty?  I doubt if it's a Virus. I'm not connected to the Net.  

Now, A4000 is reading the floppy again.
 Got the Amiga WB screen.  

the floppy drive starts making keke ke ke noises but stops....

 No Go...

Finally....

Got the Amiga WB screen...

   I've got RAM ICON
                Install 3.0
                 HDH1: G?
                 HD1:NDOS
                 HD1.1:F?
                "
The three bottom HD'...s when selected read,  The icon's have NO default tools."
These were here from the last tries I made to format the 40G new HDD.
I selected Install Disk 3.0 Opened HDToolbox.

I can't find info:  Cylinders/Blocks per Track/Blocks Per Cylinder on my HDD.

(Only what is shown above from the Hitachi web site)...

Refer to #5.  "Install Drive"  (There is no such selection on my screen)?

                                   Here's what I've got...

In Hard Drive Preparation, Partitioning and Formatting (Window)

                           "Hard Drives in System"

SCSI   0   0    HDS72804     0PLAT20     PF10
                     (Yes, the New 40G HDD)

Change Drive Type
Modify Bad Block List
Low Level Format
Partition Drive
Verify Data
Save Changes to Drive (is GHOSTED OUT)

#6
  When I tried to SAVE...A Requester came Up.
    "3.0 Install Disk is Write Protected"  


I must go to work now...if you have any ideas please let me know...
One thing for sure is that I would say I have trouble with the Floppy Disk drive reading either floppy disk.  After many re-Boot's I've only been able to get the Install 3.0 started.  (amber light flashing and a floppy drive noise)...

More later

  By the way, I really don't have any idea about #1 and #1A...as far as how to calculate, I'm just an Amiga user, not programmer....

[Jule]

I run my video toaster flyer system on 3.9 and it works great.  I have a 40 gb hd but I don't remember exactly how I formated it.  I believe I began with the 3.1 disks and divided it up into 4 paritions. 1 is 700mb for workbench.  Another is 15gb for work.  Then I have a couple of other 8 gb partitions and a 6 gb partition that I have not assigned yet. I do not remember having any problems formatting the drive.  I then loaded 3.9 on the workbench partition. Good luck, Jule