SFS????

[gdanko]

Has anyone here installed SFS? I hear it's awesome but I can't find any documentation for installation. What is the best way to approach it?

[stopthegop]

Never heard of it..

[Piru]

SFS.lha SmartFilesystem/SFS_OLD.guide

[InTheSand]

Hi,

The most recent version of SFS can be found here, for 68K and OS4/PPC, and it's still being developed.

Also take a look at this thread on EAB for some further info.

If you use the .guide file in Piru's link above, it should all start to make sense!

 - Ali

[alewis]

SFS vs PFS?

Pros/cons of each, anyone?

[Piru]

@alewis

SFS vs PFS?

This has been discussed to death before. Use search to find the relevant threads.

[rare_j]

I followed this guide.

sfs guide on EAB

It talks about using winuae but is relevent for a real amiga install as well.

[gdanko]

Was actually quite simple. Firgured most of it out on my own.
1) Copy SmartFilesystem to L:
2) Open HDToolBox and go to partition your disk
3) In advanced topics add a new FS and pick SFS in L:
4) Change that string to 0x53....
5) Save and exit
6) Relaunch HDToolBox and pick your disk, select change, pick SFS/00

However this did not change the fact that my 16 GB partition is being reported as a 6 GB

[LoadWB]

I switched to SFS a long time ago on my Internet partition, especially when using YAM.  I discovered that folders with a LOT of emails indexed MUCH faster with SFS than FFS.  Also, when downloading large (hundreds of megabytes) files several at a time, SFS performs hellabetter than FFS.

Right now, boot partitions on all of my systems are FFS.  I'm considering changing that on the 1200 with the 4GB CF just to see if there's a noticible difference.

Quick question for other SFS users: is there any issue with allowing the dostype to stay CFS/01 versus changing it to SFS/01?  I have forgotten that part in two recent setups.

[gdanko]

By the way, I was able to get the disk up. Just had to "Install" the disk. I also have SFS on both partitions by copying SmartFilesystem to L: on the 3.9 install floppy.

[motorollin]

@LoadWB
It's fine to leave the DOSType identifier as CFS/01 for normal operation, as long as you select the correct one when you partition the drive. What I don't know is whether SFS tools like the formatter and SFSSalv require the DosType to be correct according to the manual in order to work on the partition, or whether they will ignore the DOSType even if it is incorrect. Might be safest to change it anyway. (Though you will need to reformat the partition if you change the DOSType in the MBR).

--
moto

[Piru]

@motorollin

Though you will need to reformat the partition if you change the DOSType in the MBR

That is not true. As long as the dostype you change to is available, and the filesystem is compatible (this is the case here, you just change the dostype here), there is no need to reformat.

Yes, HDToolBox claims the data will be lost, but that's just HDToolBox playing it safe (it can't know of the new dostype filesystem is compatible or not).

And BTW, it's RDB not MBR.

[motorollin]

Piru wrote:
@motorollin

Though you will need to reformat the partition if you change the DOSType in the MBR

That is not true. As long as the dostype you change to is available, and the filesystem is compatible (this is the case here, you just change the dostype here), there is no need to reformat.

But if you already have an SFS partition and then change the DOSType identifier to something else, then a matching filesystem for the partition will not be found in the RDB. You would have to change the identifier back, or reformat it with the new one. I did this once with SFS and the partition changed to NDOS. When I changed the identifier back, it started working again.

Piru wrote:
And BTW, it's RDB not MBR.

Oops, a bit of Windows terminology slipped in there :nervous:

--
moto

[Framiga]

@motorollin

"You would have to change the identifier back, or reformat it with the new one. I did this once with SFS and the partition changed to NDOS. When I changed the identifier back, it started working again."

agree... happened once here too (first time i installed SFS)

[Piru]

But if you already have an SFS partition and then change the DOSType identifier to something else, then a matching filesystem for the partition will not be found in the RDB. You would have to change the identifier back, or reformat it with the new one. I did this once with SFS and the partition changed to NDOS. When I changed the identifier back, it started working again.

Well, isn't it quite obvious you're supposed to add the filesystem with the new DosType aswell? Naturally if you're just changing the dostype, add the very same filesystem, just use the new dostype value you want to use. Then change all partitions to use the new filesystem (dostype). Check that everything is fine, and then remove the old filesystem.

There is no need to reformat at any point. The key here is that you use the very same filesystem, just different dostypes.

In fact you can even do this in the reverse order: First change the partitions to use the new dostype, and only then add the filesystem with the matching dostype. In this case you get NDOS partitions temporarily, though.


All bets are off if you use different, incompatible version of the filesystem for the new dostype. If it's not compatible you need to format, of course.