tool to recover SFS formated HD

[lionstorm]

Hi all,
My boot partition is having SFS1.190 as filesystem (noted CF0 in HDtoolBox). Yesterday I wanted to add the newest SFS version 1.205 so I just copy the needed file to L and run HDtoolbox to update the FS. After a reset my amiga says : non DOS disk in HD0 so I lost everything  :-(
So now what do you advise me to do ? I tried the emergency disk from OS39 but it does not work.

Please help (my last backup is from march2003 and in between I played around a lot so the only option would be to recover my partition, but how?)
Lio

[Thomas]

I would at first downgrade to 1.190 and then read the docs of 1.205 if some additional actions have to be done during upgrade.

There is a SFS support mailing list, the address should be mentioned in the docs.

Doesn't a SFSsalv utility come with the archive ?

Bye,
Thomas

[lionstorm]

I can not access the drive and all the needed files are on this partition. At the moment I search on aminet to get all SFS related tools including SFSsalv. I already try to downgrade but HDtoolBox is telling me before I save that all datas will be lost which I can not affor at all costs.
I can boot on another HD and try to repair from there.
Lio

[pVC]

If it says that all data will be lost, it doesn't necessary mean it, if you know what you are doing. It's just default warning when you have changed certain things in settings. HDToolbox doesn't know that you're trying to recover stuff Anyway you can't destroy anything else than rdb with HDToolbox and that's correctable almost always if you know even little what you're doing.

[Thomas]

Didn't it say you will loose everything before you saved SFS the first time ?

If not, why does it now ? What do you do different now ?

Bye,
Thomas

[lionstorm]

Before I was upgrading from SFS1.190 to SFS1.205 and now I downgrade from 1.205 to 1.190 and there I got this warning message.
Lio

[Damion]

Hi Lio,

It probably gave the same message when you
saved the new filesystem the first time, only
now you are paying closer attention.
Anyhow reinstalling the old filesystem won't
cause anymore harm, it would seem most likely
to fix it (if that's indeed the problem).

Also, make sure you didn't bump around the
partition size a bit by accident (I've done
that before!), if so restoring it to the exact
same location should cure it.

Good luck!

[Thomas]

I agree. Changing the file system with HDToolbox does not change the data on the partition. In order to get back the data you only need to restore exactly the state as it was before.

If you worry about partition sizes and positions, you can use RDBrecov to determine how it should be.

Bye,
Thomas

[Framiga]

IMHO, coud be enough, to downgrade again to SFS 1.90 and save again. (at your own risk)

Ciao

PS- save your RDB file before.

[lionstorm]

Essentially you dont advise me to use SFSsalv or others SFS related tools ?
Anyway will try this evening.
Thanks
Lio

[zipper]

I did it earlier, as a new version of SFS didn't work with my SFS partition. I just put the old version of SFS back to the RDB.

[Varthall]

SFS is still in beta, so sometimes new versions are not compatible with the older ones. In this case you would need to backup everything, put the new filesystem, format and then put back all your files.

Varthall

[lionstorm]

A little update :
I used RDBrecov to check my HD and start cyl and size are the same as in HDTB. The only difference is the dos type : RDB says it is 53465300 and HDTB says 0x43465300. So I change the dos identifier in HDTB to what RDB said and reboot. And now my HD is rebooting in a loop and sometimes I cant access the early startup menu at all ?? Nothing is working anymore (only constantly rebooting) as long as this HD is connected. So I transfer this HD to my other A1200. Partitions are only viewable under HDTB with SFS/0 as filesystem (before was CF/0) but still no access.
Lio

[Thomas]

Perhaps you should consider reading docs before you try out new software ?

Trial-and-error might be an easy way to learn but you get stuck as soon as you run out of options.

The dos type (or identifier) is the connection between the filesystem and the partition. All partitions with the same dos type use the same filesystem. The file system identifier must be unique in the system.

If you change the dostype of SmartFileSystem from CFS/0 to SFS/0, you must also change all partitions from CFS/0 to SFS/0. And vice versa, if you change the partition dostype, you must change the file system dostype either.

Also, if you use CFS/0 for SmartFileSystem on one hdd, CFS/0 must be SmartFileSystem on all other of your hdds.

And of course you still should use SFS 1.190 to get back your data.

Bye,
Thomas

[lionstorm]

Do you think that the fact I changed only the filesystem on one partition (the boot) would explain why my amiga keeps resetting ?
Lio