Format real amiga HDD from PC

[rare_j]

I've got a 1.7GB FAT32 PC HDD I want to wipe and use in my Amiga. Is it possible to format it from the PC using WINUAE?

Or will I need to format it on the Amiga, before I can plug it in to the PC to copy files over?

[thomas]

You can use it with WinUAE. No problem.

If the drive was partitioned for a PC before, you have to run WinUAE with the -disableharddrivesafetycheck command line option, otherwise it will be ignored. With this option all HDDs in the PC are available to WinUAE. Beware not to use your Windows HDD, otherwise all data will be lost.

To use the HDD in WinUAE just click on "add hardrive" in the harddrives section.

[kas1e]

or by using Aros boot floppy:
1. download http://aros.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/...floppy.tar.bz2
2. write this image on floppy (by RawWrite or WinImage)
3. plugged on empty hdd to pc.
4. boot from floppy
etc.

[alexh]

Would it be possible to write the RDB and create several partitions (SFS & FFS2) and perhaps even install OS3.9 BB2 using WinUAE?

It would be certainly faster than installing on my A4k

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by alexh

Would it be possible to write the RDB and create several partitions (SFS & FFS2) and perhaps even install OS3.9 BB2 using WinUAE?

Yes, yes and yes. (FFS2?)

[thomas]

You can't use FFS2 on WinUAE. FFS2 is PPC only and can only be used with AmigaOS 4.0.

Would it be possible to write the RDB and create several partitions

It is not only possible, but necessary. If you don't create partitions, there is no sense in using it with WinUAE. AmigaDOS can only see partitions. If there are no partitions, the HDD remains invisible.

and perhaps even install OS3.9 BB2 using WinUAE?

If your A4000 has a 68060, a gfx card or a CD-ROM drive, you should rather install it on the real Amiga. Otherwise the OS might lock up or crash.

[rare_j]

Thanks, using disableharddrivesafetycheck and uauhf.device the drive came up in uae and it's now preped and formatted for SFS. Now to see if it works when it goes back in the Amiga.

[rare_j]

Well the disk formatted ok but copying data is a different issue.
I'm trying to copy over the 25mb system.zip (for classicwb) to my new SFS drive, which is connected via ide <-> usb adapter. It's on my PC filesystem in a directory that WINUAE is using as it's amiga HDD. When I go to copy it over it gets to about 7mb and freezes up winuae. It's the same if I unpack system.zip onto my new sfs drive; after about 7mb of files it just stops.
What could be causing this?

[Toni Wilen]

Can you full format (not quick) it under Windows? It may have bad block or have compatibility problem with your adapter. Check Windows Event Viewer for possible error messages.

[rare_j]

Did a full NTFS format and surface scan, ok.
Reformatted a partition as FFS and tried again, same thing happened except the emulated amiga system didn't hang, but disk activity ground to an unexplained halt every time I tried at random points in the unpacking process.