Installing PFS3 on 8.5GB SCSI HD
 

How do I install PFS3 on a large SCSI HD?
I installed the software, updated it and followed the instructions which are on the CD.
I have 5 partition, all are 1.5GB. I formated (full format)the first 2 partion using pfsformat but when I tried to format the third but I get the message that it can't format it due to it's over 4GB.:confused
I can quick format all of my partition but then I can't use the tools which come with PFS3.
Does somebody know how to overcome this problem?
My system is as follow:
- A1200T
- Blizzard PPC +603 175/40/25
- OS 3.9 BB2
- 8.5GB SCSI HD
- 3GB IDE
- Mediator
- Voodoo3
Thanks

Never full format PFS3 partitions (read the docs)
I've had problems with PFS3 too but not since I put PFS3 on my OS3.9 emergency floppy and used it straight away when partition my hd and installing OS3.9 from scratch
there is an update for pfs3 on Aminet which should solve some diskdoctor troubles

I updated PFS3 to 18.5. What the point of having a Disktool which one can use only for partitions under 4GB?

Run Check4GB and quote its output here.

@thomas
Here my results using Check 4GB

That's really strange, but obviously your SCSI driver does not accept SCSI commands to read from the HDD. Do you have the latest flash update installed ?

You should use the regular PFS3 instead of PFS3ds, then it will work.


Edit: of course you have the latest flash, the version number says so.

Thanks thomas. Yes I have the latest flash updates installed. The blizzppc.device is version 44.35.

@thomas
Ok, I changed from PDS/3 to PFS/3. Here is log from Check4GB:

Looks good to me. Do you still get error messages ?

Yes, just tried it again. Still get the error message 'Full format is not possible'.

Mmh, I thought SFS was newer, better and still being updated (isn't PFS3 abandoned?)

I personally suggest SFS :)
http://strohmayer.org/sfs/

Thanks for the comment but that doesn't help. I have PSF3 now and I want to find out how to install properly.

I must admit, I never tried to full-format any HDD partition. Why should I ? It doesn't do more than produce hot air anyway.

Why don't you use quick-format and forget about it ?

I know it works with quick format. I tried it with a 5.1GB IDE hard drive using PSD3 and it works fine. So, why doesn't it work on a SCSI HD with blizzzppc.device. Do I need to patch it with TD64? Or, should I go back and use SFS ?

Blizzppc.device already supports TD64, no patch needed. Using PFS3 on blizzppc is totally safe.

PFS3ds does not use TD64 but HD_SCSICMD and blizzppc.device does not support HD_SCSICMD, at least not for reading and writing data.

I don't see a reason why a SCSI driver should not accept SCSI commands, but it doesn't. Both PFS3 tools and Check4GB say so.

But, if I run pfsdoctor on my partition which are over the 4GB limit I get the following message 'PFSDoctor failed to access this disk above the 4GB boundary after attempting both direct SCSI and TD64. Aborting'
What it means that I can use PFSDoctor only for partition under the 4GB boundary and anything over that it's useless?

Where does it say that blizzppc.device supports TD64? Can you point me to some documentation's?

Look at the result of your first run of Check4GB. The rows with the problematic partitions say in the "check" column: * N T. "*" means that the check was not ok, "N" means it supports NSD commands and "T" means that it supports TD64 commands. An additional "S" would have meant it supports HD_SCSICMD, too, but it doesn't (which I still find very irritating: a SCSI driver which does not allow SCSI commands to be used).

I don't know if it is in the documentation somewhere, but I know that Phase5 was one of the founders of the TD64 standard and all Phase5 SCSI drivers support TD64.

BTW, there is no TD64 patch. The only patch available is NSDPatch, which does not have anything to do with TD64 (except that it can use TD64 commands if they already are supported). And even if a patch existed, it would convert TD64 commands to SCSI commands which in turn are not supported by your device.

While I think about it, it could be that the error which happens when using SCSI commands is not because of SCSI commands are not supported but because the SCSI commands somehow fail. Are you sure your HDD is connected and jumpered correctly and that the SCSI bus is terminated correctly ?
Unfortunately neither Check4GB nor PFSDoctor say which error code was returned when attempting to use SCSI commands.

Another thought: did you check devs:nsdpatch.cfg ? Perhaps the line for blizzppc.device is not correct. It could be that NSDPatch patches blizzppc.device so that it rejects SCSI commands although they are supported.

Thanks thomas for the info. That's great. My SCSI HD is an IBM DNES-309170.
I'll check the jumpers. Any idea what jumpers I have to check?

Usually the only jumpers are Term, TermPwr, and three or four jumpers for the SCSI ID. SCSI ID does not matter except that you must not use the same ID on different devices. Term should be off if you use terminators or if the drive is in the middle of the cable. If it is the last device on the cable, Term should be on.

TermPower should be supplied by exactly one device. I don't know if the BlizzardPPC supplies TermPower and if it is terminated. This should be described in the manual. If it is not terminated, you need a terminator or a terminated device on the other end of the cable, too. If it does not supply term power, you should set the TermPwr jumper on one (and only one) of the other devices.

IMHO you should first check NSDPatch.cfg. If there is a line with blizzppc.device, remove it. It is not needed for use with PFS3. (But it is needed for use with FFS.)