GVP A4008 SCSI controller speed?

[tonyvdb]

So my GVP A4008 SCSI controller is set up not to boot on startup my question is if I copy the full drive over from my IDE hard drive and set it as the boot device will that improve speed/reliability?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

So you're asking if the GVP A4008 is faster than the stock motherboard IDE of an A4000, correct?

Pretty much 100% yes, unless you've got something badly misconfigured.  Obviously this opens up a whole other can of worms, you can research things like the FastATA (a faster IDE interface), or various Zorro III SCSI cards that are faster than the Zorro II on the A4008, and then what kind of drive you have connected to both (which obviously makes a huge difference), etc.

But if your choices are between those two only, and all else being the same, I'd go with the SCSI card.  

[tonyvdb]

Yes, my A4000. I already have it hooked up and just have an old SCSI drive on it but I have a nice 68pin Atlas 10K SCSI drive that I want to use (I have the 68 to 50pin converters).
Is it as simple as copying everything over to the new SCSI drive after formatting it correctly and changing the jumper on the GVP to make it boot just as it did before with the IDE drive?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

You'll need to prep it in HDToolbox and set it's boot priority relative to your existing drive, but otherwise, yes.

Disclaimer: something could always go wrong.  

[tonyvdb]

LOL, not worried given I still have the IDE drive to fall back on. It will become my backup.
Thanks for your help as always.

Tony

[paul1981]

To preserve the time/date stamps on your files, make sure to use the CLONE switch on the Copy command (if using the Shell).

Copy DH0: NEWDH0: ALL CLONE

If using a directory utility, just check in the options that it will preserve the date stamps on your files. The date stamps aren't important to the functionality of your computer, but my personal preference is that they are preserved.

[tonyvdb]

Ok that brings me to my next question. What is the best way to clone my old drive onto the new SCSI drive? This is an area I'm not familiar with on the Amiga.

I was going to simply copy the files over.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Ok that brings me to my next question. What is the best way to clone my old drive onto the new SCSI drive? This is an area I'm not familiar with on the Amiga.

I was going to simply copy the files over.

Right.  What Paul said.  Prep the new drive and copy the files over.  Should be good to go!  

[Matt_H]

Right.  What Paul said.  Prep the new drive and copy the files over.  Should be good to go!  

Reason #435 that I love the Amiga

[tonyvdb]

Ok, so my quantum Atlas drive is a 9.2gb.
I know it's best to only use 4gb of that space so what is the best way for me to do this.
In the GVP hard drive tools program it is only showing up as a 567mb drive. 99660 is the highest Cylinder. Do I simply increase that value?
Also I have SFS but it's not seeming to be an option on the file system option.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

In slow motion: "Noooooo!!!"  Don't use GVP FaaastPrep!  It's only designed for hard drives from the '80s, and will ruin anything else!  Use the latest version of HDToolbox to prep your drive.  If you use SFS or PFS and have patched your OS you can create partitions as big as you want. But for the sake of "not having to bang your head against a wall figuring stuff out", make it 4GB makes it easy.

I usually do 1 partition of around 500MB for Workbench, one of 1-2GB for Work:, sometimes one for Documents,  and one for games.  Split it up, don't make just one big partition, and again - keeping it inside the first 4GB keeps it compatible.  

Edit: You do have 3.9 though, so you should already have all the tools you need...

[tonyvdb]

Ok, thanks.
I'm trying to do this within my OS 3.1 so I should switch over to the 3.9 OS and do it from there?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Ok, thanks.
I'm trying to do this within my OS 3.1 so I should switch over to the 3.9 OS and do it from there?

IMHO you should always use the latest version of the OS, especially since 3.9 contains a lot of improvements for large drive support.  You are going to put 3.9 on your new drive, right?  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I made an awful video recently.  This might help you.  

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=68805

[tonyvdb]

Well, 3.9 would be ideal however it does not support the video toaster so I'm going to have to stick with 3.1
I use 3.9 for when I'm not using the Toaster and just want to play games.