Partition advice?

[wXR]

Hey can any of you crazy Classic-PPC people tell me how best to partition a 300GB drive, assuming I want *everything* to run (OS 3.9, OS 4.1, Linux, and maybe MorphOS, too).

I'd like easy booting using the normal boot menu if possible, and of course some kind of shared data-swapping space.

I guess the Linux install will need a dedicated swap *partition*, right?

Confusing.

How have some of you crazy guys (mfilos etc) succeeded in this? What would you recommend?

[Raid27]

Hey dude. Its been awhile since I did Linux, but don't the install manager have a recommended settings option or something? Last time I installed a linux version it chose my partitions automatically including swapping and stuff.

[mfilos]

Well, basically you'd like OS3.9, OS4.1, MorphOS for PuP and Work partitions.
I have gone the Debian PPC (Sarge) path and trust me... it wasn't for the faint hearted. Honestly it's one of the worst things I have done to my A1200D PPC cause it took me a whole weekend to setup since no official guide exists and what's worse... most repositories and paths from files that some guides link to, are either dead or changed over the years.
For A4000 it might be easier, but on A1200 that ONLY specific PCMCIA Ethernet NICs are compatible with (none of the 3COM and very rarely seen on eBay), you're pretty much screwed cause you'll certainly need an network access for ease of installation...

Anywayz... Linux installation needs actually 1 partition and 1 swap. The bootstrap command can run from your existing 3.9 installation UNLESS you want another light 3.1 installation to start the bootstrap automaticaly like booting to Linux at once (by Early Startup Menu)

Apart from Linux now...
- OS3.9 --> I never needed more than 950MB (wanted a bit under the 1GB space for safety reasons) of 3.9 space (including all my progs etc under System partition - for easier backup procedures). Seriously now... It's the system you'll spend your 95% of your Amiga time (trust me on this lol)
- OS4.1 --> Since I never messed a lot with OS4.x I kept an 950MB partition as well for the system and programs (dunno if it's ok nowadays but I guess I'll go with that number as well when I'll setup 4.1 on my miggy for means of completeness. You might actually need an SWAP partition in case you Amiga has <=128MB of RAM. For >=256MB the SWAP partition is not needed.
- MorphOS --> I kept again an 950MB partition for that drive as well along with programs etc. Lack of registering MorphOS nowadays is a serious Thumbs-Down for me, not because I need to restart every once and a while, but because I really hate software with restrictions (I buy most of stuff that I use anyway).
- Work --> This is your main partition for your Data, although you can have more partitions based on your need (like GAMES, DEMOS, MUSIC, blah blah). I thought that I didn't like that aspect cause I didn't want to have boundaries on my data. Just a simple GAMES, DEMOS, MUSIC folder was just fine under Work.
You can actually have folders like OS3.x, OS4.x, MOS etc to categorize which data is being used by every Operating System or have different Work partitions for every System (not so pretty imho though).
Make sure that if you make a huge Work partition you need to have some patched SCSI.device and a filesystem that supports big Hard Disks. (PFS3 which is the best FS imho has a restriction of 127GB afaik so either split your partitions of check for other FS).

Also you can have an FAT partition in case you wanna install all the above AmigaOSes plus Linux to have a common partition for exchanging data.

That's all I guess
People have different opinions on these matters, but I'm just expressing my personal taste etc.

[thomas]

I would put the 300 GB monster into an external NAS enclosure and use it for data to be shared among the PCs at your home.

For the Amiga I'd use a 8 or 16 GB CF card which has plenty of space for everything you want to do.

Regarding partitioning, every partition which should boot the Amiga must be inside the first 4GB of the drive. So either you have all operating systems in the first 4GB (which would mean ca. 1 GB for each OS) or you make a partition with OS 3.x which can load the OS4 Kickstart and the Linux and MorphOS kernels.

Either way, you have plenty space. Even 1GB for each OS is already plenty.

[wXR]

Thanks all for the advice!

Originally Posted by mfilos

Well, basically you'd like OS3.9, OS4.1, MorphOS for PuP and Work partitions.
I have gone the Debian PPC (Sarge) path and trust me... it wasn't for the faint hearted. Honestly it's one of the worst things I have done to my A1200D PPC cause it took me a whole weekend to setup since no official guide exists and what's worse... most repositories and paths from files that some guides link to, are either dead or changed over the years.
For A4000 it might be easier, but on A1200 that ONLY specific PCMCIA Ethernet NICs are compatible with (none of the 3COM and very rarely seen on eBay), you're pretty much screwed cause you'll certainly need an network access for ease of installation...

What about USB and USB Ethernet? Do you still have your Debian partition? How does your whole partition scheme look actually?

Anywayz... Linux installation needs actually 1 partition and 1 swap. The bootstrap command can run from your existing 3.9 installation UNLESS you want another light 3.1 installation to start the bootstrap automaticaly like booting to Linux at once (by Early Startup Menu)

That sounds like a good solution actually (light 3.1 install to start bootstrap); I assume you wouldn't need more than 10MB for all of that?

Apart from Linux now...
- OS3.9 --> I never needed more than 950MB (wanted a bit under the 1GB space for safety reasons) of 3.9 space (including all my progs etc under System partition - for easier backup procedures). Seriously now... It's the system you'll spend your 95% of your Amiga time (trust me on this lol)
- OS4.1 --> Since I never messed a lot with OS4.x I kept an 950MB partition as well for the system and programs (dunno if it's ok nowadays but I guess I'll go with that number as well when I'll setup 4.1 on my miggy for means of completeness. You might actually need an SWAP partition in case you Amiga has <=128MB of RAM. For >=256MB the SWAP partition is not needed.

OS 4.1 SWAP can be out of the 4GB boot device range, right?

- MorphOS --> I kept again an 950MB partition for that drive as well along with programs etc. Lack of registering MorphOS nowadays is a serious Thumbs-Down for me, not because I need to restart every once and a while, but because I really hate software with restrictions (I buy most of stuff that I use anyway).

What do you mean about registering?

Also you can have an FAT partition in case you wanna install all the above AmigaOSes plus Linux to have a common partition for exchanging data.

What about Linux reading Amiga volumes? I thought it was capable of this?

Thanks Mfilos!

[wXR]

Originally Posted by thomas

I would put the 300 GB monster into an external NAS enclosure and use it for data to be shared among the PCs at your home.

Are you sharing with Amiga using SMB then?

[mfilos]

Originally Posted by wXR

What about USB and USB Ethernet? Do you still have your Debian partition? How does your whole partition scheme look actually?

USB and USB Ethernet work with Poseidon just fine (like OS3.9) but Debian and Linux in general doesn't support USB controllers AFAIK. So you can forget about them I think.
I still have my partition and I can PM you a screenshot from the HDToolBox if you're interested.

Originally Posted by wXR

That sounds like a good solution actually (light 3.1 install to start bootstrap); I assume you wouldn't need more than 10MB for all of that?

True. 10MB will be enough for a Linux Partition

Originally Posted by wXR

OS 4.1 SWAP can be out of the 4GB boot device range, right?

Don't recall correctly but I think so too.

Originally Posted by wXR

What do you mean about registering?

MorphOS for PuP can't be registered. There is a tool inside the OS that makes the registration (sending your personal data to MOS Team). Actually your data was sent and after some days you was getting a keyfiles. The servers are off for some years now, and despite users asking, MOS Team decided to keep them off. You can't register and not only that, but you can't even download MOS for PuP since even the website is off for some time. If you want link I can give you from my Dropbox account.

Originally Posted by wXR

What about Linux reading Amiga volumes? I thought it was capable of this?

I don't remember that. I guess it could but I'm not sure. Linux isn't much usable on X Environment (I have Gnome @ 330MHz PPC) and it's a bit slow even @ 800x600.


Apart from all these questions/answers, I'd have to agree with Thomas on that.
300GB for Amiga seem a lot and unless you wanna put EVERY music/game/adf/etc that existed... you'd be happy with a lot smaller drive like an 16GB CF.
Me for example have:
- An 16GB CF (950MB DH0:OS3.9, 950MB DH1:MorphOS, 14GB DH2:Work) mounted on BPPC's SCSI via an ACard SCSI to IDE Bridge.
- An 4GB CF (950MB SDH0:OS4.0, 1GB SDH1:Work4.0, 1.5GB Ext2:Linux, 512MB Swap:Linux) mounted on an Idefix Express.

[thomas]

Originally Posted by mfilos

You can't register and not only that, but you can't even download MOS for PuP since even the website is off for some time.

It's not down any more.

http://powerup.morphos-team.net/