SCSI drive + Cyberstorm PPC problems

[stopthegop]

Do these two things:
1.Replace the SCSI cable (Parity/geometry errors). Get the shortest one possible.  
2.Disable TERM_PWR on the disk.


This will solve your problems.  

[alewis]

@d0pefish - any joy? Whats the latest?

[d0pefish]

Hi there,

Well, nothing you guys have suggested has had any good effect. :-(

However, I did manage to get the drive connected to my PC. I got hold of an older SCSI card and tried some stuff using a very useful tool called MHDD. I did all the erasing stuff it offered and low level formatting etc - and nothing I can do can bring the 900MB back!

The connection between hard disk and PC is stable and sound. I am certain the problem lies with the disk itself.

I'm waiting for my new hard disk to arrive, probably tomorrow if I'm lucky, and I'm also just waiting on what the seller of the original hard disk wants to do. I'm hoping he will refund me. In essence, I was sold a hard disk that I cannot rely on.

I'll keep you posted with how I get on. I also have a new, shorter and round SCSI cable on its way to try too, mainly as it'd be more suited to the cramped space inside the A4K case, but also just in case this cable is a bit funny.

Cheers for the help! :-D

[d0pefish]

Update

New hard disk and cable arrived. So far working flawlessly; have all my partitions set up and I'm having fun filling it with games and demos. :-) The newer Atlas is much quieter than the original and hasn't had any errors so far (touch wood)! It's reporting the correct size. :-)

The seller of the original drive has agreed to take it back and I'm awaiting confirmation of his postal address so I can return it to him. :-D

Happy ending! :-D

[d0pefish]

I cannot BELIEVE what has just happened.

After using my Amiga for a few hours today, I rebooted to find that - once again, EXACTLY like before - my last partition was corrupt.

And also even more frightening is the fact that exactly like before, the hard drive is reporting a smaller size. Again, I'm missing a couple of gigabytes when reading the geometry from the drive.

I was totally convinced my problems were over as I have had no bother whatsoever with it up until now. So I had loaded up my drive with lots of demos and games, and I had everything *PERFECT*... it took me days to get everything sorted and tidied up how I liked it.

And now it's all gone; a lot of my stuff was on that partition.

I am so frustrated. I haven't even completed the arrangement with the seller of the previous drive yet, and now my new one is dying. It has a warranty, but I am going to have to go through all the hassle all over again.

I really don't know what to do now as I'm losing hope.  :madashell:  :madashell:  :madashell:  :madashell:  :madashell:

[x56h34]

I think it's the Atlas drive that is not very CSPPC friendly. I've had similar problems in the past with that same drive, and once I switched to a Seagate Barracuda problems dissapeared. I've had best success with IBM U160 or better SCSI drives and CSPPC. They always work fine with CSPPC and would give speeds close to the theoretical limit (30 to 35MB/s, so pretty close to the 40MB theoretical limit).

EDIT: Fujitsu U160 or better SCSI drives also work great with CSPPC, from my experience.

[d0pefish]

Thanks for the advice on other choices. I don't think I  want to even heard the word "Atlas" ever mentioned again. :roll:

I forgot to mention - this time I haven't had a single "Parity error" or similar pop up. Maybe the new cable has helped in that respect...

[magnetic]

dopefish

Why is all the data "gone" there are recovery tools you can use you know...

magnetic

[d0pefish]

I know there are recovery tools.

But I can only get a tiny amount of what I had back, because according to the drive, the 4GB or so that held most of my data on that partition no longer physically exists. SFSSalv can only access the tiny piece of partition that is still visible to the computer.

Which is extremely infuriating, as I created about a hundred or so directories by hand to organize a lot of demos by group name. The only directories SFSSalv can recover have lost their names.

Have I found a major, major problem with Atlas drives coupled with the CyberStorm, or have I just been unlucky as hell? Either way, I've been shafted by these drives twice, and won't be going with Quantum/Maxtor again... :-(

[Dandy]

d0pefish wrote:
...
Anyone got any recommendations for other hard drives to use with the CyberStorm? Something equal or better than the Atlas 10K II preferably... 18gb upwards? What are YOU using with your CyberStorm SCSI? :-)
...

I don't know the Atlas 10K II? - my SCSI-chain is as follows:
act. term - CSPPC - 4.3gB UW-SCSI-HD (IBM) - 160gB IDE-HD (Maxtor) via ACARD UW->IDE converter (faaaaast!) - act. term. (upper 8bit) adaptor UW->SCSI II - SCSI-CD-ROM - SCSI-CD-RW - IDE-DVD-RW via ACARD UW->IDE converter - SCSI-tape-streamer - ext. SCSI scammer - act. term (lower 8bit)

All devices have the internal termination disabled.

Regarding your question if you can terminate the chain in the middle of the cable:
No.
IIRC the signals can get "reflected" and the *ENDS* of the cable if those are not terminated actively.

IMO it would make more sense to cut the cable to the length you need and then terminate the ends.

[d0pefish]

Thanks.

While I did wonder about the *idea* of terminating mid-cable, I never actually did it. I was just wondering if that were possible just out of curiosity.

My SCSI chain is fine, the cabling is fine, and I'm terminated properly; at the ends. I have correct cabling and correct terminators - and my chain is nowhere near the complexity of yours. I don't need to cut the cable now that I have a new one.

The problem lies with the Atlas drives I've been using. I am going to try a Fujitsu model next, so the only thing I need now is luck, which I seem to be having a shortage of at the moment.   :-(

[Framiga]

its a really weird problem (close the one i'm experiencing currently here even if with different behaviour.... probably a dying HD here)

The "parity" problem you got (at the beginning) should be related to the device itself and/or cabling/termination (gone now with the new cable)

The fact that HDToolbox reads the geometry wrongly the first time, it could happen.

Have you tryed to search on the net the "real" geometry of your Atlas? and type in HDToolbox manually?

I could suggest you to try with the Phase5 HD SCSIConfig  but then you have to use it always.

Another suggestion.... when you install a new HD, save the RDB somewhere. If something will go wrong, you can load the RDB again and see your HD like it was prepped the first time.

Which RomUpdate do you have installed? type in a shell:

version cybppc.device FULL


Edit- ah... just for curiosity, how many "bad blocks" are reported by Q-Device with this new HD?

[Crumb]

Install MorphOS in other hard drive and run SFSdoctor. It works great.

And don't forget to use good connections and cables.

[d0pefish]

The thing is, all the prep tools I tried were reading the drive as 33.9GB at the beginning. SCSIConfig, HDToolbox, HDinst even Q-Device... all reported 33.9, which is correct according to the formula used to work out "real" capacity versus "manufacturer's" capacity (36.4).

Now all the tools are consistently reporting the drive as 31.9GB. Q-Device even says that the "manufacturer's" capacity is 34.3... so where have those couple gigabytes gone?

The RDB is still set as it was when it read the drive at the right capacity, but if I edit it and re-read it, all the values drop down to make it 31.9. The RDB isn't corrupt or anything, as the computer still boots up from the first and second partitions.

I have MorphOS installed so I will try SFSDoctor to see if I can get any data back.

cybppc.device is phase5 version 44.67 (11/03/1999) (Ralph Schmidt). I'm certain this is the latest official version - the behaviour doesn't change at all with the newer unofficial G-Rex version. (which I was using when the first hard drive screwed up)

The hard drive shows itself at the lower capacity when connected to my PC.

I was reading up on defects on SCSI drives - apparently it's only the GROWN defects and not the PRIMARY ones to be concerned about, as the primary ones are marked by the manufacturer when the drive was made. In that case, both drives have no grown defects which makes things even more odd. The 512 defects on the other drive were primary.

This drive has 451 primary defects, and the number stayed the same before and after the sudden unexplainable shrinkage.

I just don't get it. :-?

EDIT:
Just ran SFSDoctor. THANKYOU!! It is listing all my directories. It doesn't matter so much if I cannot recover the files inside them, but at least if I can get all the named drawers back, that saves me a LOT of pain.

Thanks for the pointer to that tool, it's very nice! :-D

[stopthegop]

x56h34 wrote:
I think it's the Atlas drive that is not very CSPPC friendly. I've had similar problems in the past with that same drive, and once I switched to a Seagate Barracuda problems dissapeared. I've had best success with IBM U160 or better SCSI drives and CSPPC. They always work fine with CSPPC and would give speeds close to the theoretical limit (30 to 35MB/s, so pretty close to the 40MB theoretical limit).

EDIT: Fujitsu U160 or better SCSI drives also work great with CSPPC, from my experience.

This is consistent with my experiences using the cstorm.