Guide to transfer to CF using WinUAE

[dreamcast270mhz]

I am making this short, concise guide for those who have a CF drive amiga and want to use it for file transfer. This method is practical because it doesn't require the amiga to have a connection to the PC.

Step 1: Patching the WinUAE startup.

Ditch the desktop shortcut, because it forgets one important parameter for this process, the "-disableharddrivesafetycheck" option. To make a "patched" shortcut, open up notepad and type this:
winuae -disablehardrivesafetycheck

Save the file to the location of the WinUAE executable, which is by default C:\Program Files\WinUAE as WinUAE.bat. Now, right click it, and go to create shortcut. Move this shortcut to your Desktop. Now, to change the icon, right click->properties and click Change Icon. Point it to the WinUAE executable.

Step 2: Getting the Ideal setup.
Okay, double click the WinUAE shortcut we made in the last step.
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp316/Dreamcast270mhz/WinUAECPUsetup.png
This is the recommended configuration for CPU.
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp316/Dreamcast270mhz/WinUAEChipsetSetup.png
Since most people who use CF drives for an HDD are using an A1200, this in my setup. If you are PAL, then please uncheck the NTSC box.
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp316/Dreamcast270mhz/RamConfig.png
Again, this is my preference, because of my limited resources

I recommend at least 2 floppy drives, 3.5 DD but i use 4.
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp316/Dreamcast270mhz/HDDsettings.png
Your screen should look similar. I use a CF-USB adapter, Targus brand, but PCMCIA should work.

Please save the configuration.

Step 3: Working with the CF.
Now, fire it up with a workbench disk in any floppy drive.
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp316/Dreamcast270mhz/001.png
This is how it should look if you've already partitioned the CF in the miggy.

I am not going into partitioning a CF because it is much like a hard disk, just one parameter must be constant. The "Max transfer" as told by Arnljot should ALWAYS be set to 0x1FE00.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps

[Thomas]

Ditch the desktop shortcut

You can add command line arguments to the shortcut. No need to create a batch file.


-disableharddrivesafetycheck

You shouldn't need this more than once. If the CF card is already partitioned on the Amiga, WinUAE will accept it without disabling the safety check. Disabling the check only makes it easier to destroy your Windows harddrive.

Also starting with Vista, WinUAE won't reliably write to the CF card if it had a drive letter before. You should rather clean the disk for example with diskpart and then use it in WinUAE without -disableharddrivesafetycheck.



Getting the Ideal setup

You could simply select your preferred Amiga model from the Quickstart panel.

[koshman]

A great idea to do such a guide, dreamcast. I did this a few days ago and there certainly are a few things I wasn't sure how to do and had to consult various forum posts. Good work!

[dreamcast270mhz]

You can add command line arguments to the shortcut. No need to create a batch file.




You shouldn't need this more than once. If the CF card is already partitioned on the Amiga, WinUAE will accept it without disabling the safety check. Disabling the check only makes it easier to destroy your Windows harddrive.

Also starting with Vista, WinUAE won't reliably write to the CF card if it had a drive letter before. You should rather clean the disk for example with diskpart and then use it in WinUAE without -disableharddrivesafetycheck.





You could simply select your preferred Amiga model from the Quickstart panel.

I did this guide using XP and a Targus CF-USB reader. I have found it won't work reliably unless I do this, and I guess adding the arguments to shortcut could be done, but I did what I knew would work

[royalt]

Great job, this is the best guide i've seen in a while, and i've seen many, works like a charm.:afro:

[RGB_gamer]

Great job, this is the best guide i've seen in a while, and i've seen many, works like a charm.:afro:

My compact flash card is not partitioned for amiga. How do I do that via WinUAE? I tried this guide, but it didn't work for me. My CF card is connected to my PC via compact flash to USB adapter. I am using Windows 7 (32bit)

[Thomas]

it didn't work for me.

Details ?

[RGB_gamer]

Details ?


I can finally get WinUAE to recognize my 4gb card, but how do I partition it correctly so I can install workbench on it? My 4gb CF card is currently formatted for FAT. Do I need to partition it in a different tool before trying it in HDToolbox?