HDD questioN

[Marcb]

Hi,

I'm trying to set up a 40gb HDD but have no idea how to work out blocks per track etc?

Can someone help?

[Franko]

Hi,

I'm trying to set up a 40gb HDD but have no idea how to work out blocks per track etc?

Can someone help?

Hi Marcb :)

Depends on which machine and type of HD interface board and filesystem your trying to set it up on, need more info... :)

[Marcb]

Hi,

Well, trying to set it up on my 4000D, will use SFS or PFS3 eventually but at the moment I can't get Hdinstools to recognize it properly...

When it queries the drive, the wrong size is returned so I'm wanting to input the blocks per track etc manually but I cant work it out:)

[Franko]

On my A1200 I use SFS with 2 500Gb HDs, They are partitioned into various sizes but most use blocksize of 512 and a couple of partitions that use block sizes of 2048 bytes. I've never had to do the calculating myself though HDToolbox sets them up fine on my set up.

I'll nip over to my Amiga and copy some of my dos drivers and post them here, maybe that will give you an idea of what your looking for I'm on a mac just now, so I'll have to copy them to a memory card and transfer to the mac to post them...

[Franko]

Dunno if any of this will help...

Example 1: A Basic FastFileSystem Dos.Driver

/* DH0: */
device = scsi.device
Unit = 0
Flags = 0
FileSystem = "L:FastFileSystem"
GlobVec = -1
Surfaces = 3
BlockSize = 512
BlocksPerTrack = 16
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 0
SectorsPerBlock = 1
LowCyl = 43
HighCyl = 43712
PreAlloc = 0
Buffers = 30
BufMemType = 1
DOSType = 0x444f5303
MaxTransfer = 16776704
Mask = 0xfffffffe
BootPri = 0
Mount = 1
#

Example 2: A SFS Dos.Driver

/* HD0: */

device = scsi.device
Unit = 1
Flags = 0
FileSystem = L:SmartFileSystem
StackSize = 16384
GlobVec = -1
Surfaces = 1
BlockSize = 512
BlocksPerTrack = 264
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 0
SectorsPerBlock = 1
LowCyl = 2
HighCyl = 1184021
PreAlloc = 0
Buffers = 100
BufMemType = 1
DOSType = 0x53465302
MaxTransfer = 16776704
Mask = 0x7fffffff
BootPri = 0
Mount = 1
/*# BootBlocks = 0 */

#

Hope this is of some use to you... :)

Franko

[Thomas]

What HDInstTool tells you is correct. The IDE driver cannot see more than 8GB of which you cannot use more than 4GB anyway. You need to install updated drivers like OS 3.9 or IDEfix first.

[Marcb]

Thanks Franko for going to the trouble of getting those settings for me!

Reading Thomas' reply, I think I missed the most important step though...:)

I haven't patched the scsi device, I thought because I was using a Buddha controller I'd be ok..

So what is my next step, acquire idefix from somewhere ?

[Franko]

I've never used the Buddha before, all my Amiga's use either the 4xEIDE or FASTATA MKII controllers, been that long since I've read anything about the Buddha that it will take me a bit of digging around to find some info on it (always thought the Buddha was for floppies...)

[Franko]

Just had a quick look around the net, I don't know if you've already got this installer or if you need it for your Buddha, but have a quick look here...

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/buddha

[Thomas]

I haven't patched the scsi device, I thought because I was using a Buddha controller I'd be ok..

You didn't mention Buddha before. The Buddha controller is ok, it should be able to recognise the size of the drive correctly.

But you still need a file system like SFS or PFS3 to use more than 4Gb.

You also didn't mention any other details. What makes you think that the partitioning tool does something wrong?

[Marcb]

@ Franko

Yep, I've used the Install disk that came with my Buddha, I think I'm just getting confused with what I expect HdInst to display ?

@Thomas

True, I was a bit vague with my first post... Basically it is a 40gb IDE HD that I salvaged from an old PC at work, I have hooked it up to both the onboard A4000 IDE and the Buddha's IDE.
When I use HDToolbox or HDInstools and I ask them to read the config from the drive, they both report the wrong number of heads etc.
If I try to Partition, the slider "rolls over" to 0 numerous times, eg I create a partition with 500mb for wb then try to create a second partition but when I move the slider along it reverts back to 0... is this normal behaviour?

I've tried your check4gb and it reports that the 2nd.scsi.device (Buddha) is ready for NSD & TD64 commands... scsi.device is not.

I have both SFS & PFS3 ready to go but I'm not comfortable that the initial partitioning will be correct...

[Thomas]

When I use HDToolbox or HDInstools and I ask them to read the config from the drive, they both report the wrong number of heads etc.


What makes you think so? Modern drives only report the highest LBA (total number of blocks). The tool then calculates cyls, heads and sectors by best guess. Different tools give different results, that's nothing to worry about. Only cyls * heads * sectors should be equal to or slightly smaller than the total number of blocks.


If I try to Partition, the slider "rolls over" to 0 numerous times, eg I create a partition with 500mb for wb then try to create a second partition but when I move the slider along it reverts back to 0... is this normal behaviour?


HDToolbox does this. It cannot display values bigger than 4096 MB. But it's only the display. Partitions will be correct anyway.

HDInsttool should not do this. If in doubt get the latest version of it from Aminet.


I've tried your check4gb and it reports that the 2nd.scsi.device (Buddha) is ready for NSD & TD64 commands... scsi.device is not.

As I wrote above, with the internal IDE controller you cannot use more than 4 GB and not "see" more than 8 GB. The Buddha should be ok.


I have both SFS & PFS3 ready to go but I'm not comfortable that the initial partitioning will be correct...

You should use the custom file system already for the first installation. If you change it later, you have to backup all files and format the changed partition.