Large Hard-Drives (over 4gb)

[keitha1200]

Hi

I've been really struggling with trying to get a 160gb HD working reliable in a 3.1 Amiga 1200 (Towered/ Elbox 4 way IDE/Apollo/WB 3.0/OS 3.9).

I've tried partitioning the drive into two 4gb partitions via WB 3.0 (HDH0 and HDF1), which works fines, but when I install 3.9; DH0 works ok but DH1 becomes unreadable!and crashes out if I try to format it via WB format. I've been at it for over two days, trying different ideas/things and I think I might have found the problem and I need some advice.

When installing Eyetech's 4 way IDE software on Expert/Knowledgeable setting (the one that allows the use of Zip drives etc) I get the following message:

'Wrong Argument'
'Wrong Argument'
'Wrong Argument'

I've read the doc's (as supplied with disk) and it mentions something about larger HD's over 4gb. It also recommends the following:

Open a shell then type the following:

spatch -ol:fastfilesystem.44_1 -pfastfilesystem_40.4.patch :l fastfilesystem

Does that make any sense? (I believe it has something to do with Commodore's old 38.2 FFS and 4gb limitation) and what would be the effect?

PS sorry if am 'all over the place' with the above post as I'm struggling to get my head around it all.

PS: In OS 3.9: HDSetup tools; WB recognise the drive as Maxtor 129gb (the drive is actually 160gb)

[roy bates]

dont partiton the boot partition more than 512mb in size and see how you get on.dont set up any partitions apart from the first one install all the software to boot 3.9 then partition the drive after.


good luck

[thomas]

You need at least version 4.0 of the EIDE software to get LBA48 (>128 GB) support.

http://www.elbox.com/downloads_4xeide.html

Always use quick format on harddrives.

Do not use version 44 of FastFileSystem when you can get version 45 (comes with OS 3.9).

As said by Roy, keep your boot partition small and in the beginning of the drive. After power-on all limits of 3.1 apply which means only the first 4GB of the drive can be accessed. Do not try to write to a partition outside of the first 4GB of the drive in this situation, it will destroy your other partitions.

The best way to prepare a big harddrive is to boot from the OS 3.9 emergency disk and only then initialize the hdd. Don't fiddle around with 3.0 or such.

[keitha1200]

Originally Posted by thomas

Always use quick format on harddrives.

Ah that explains why its all going horrible wrong for me! Force of habit and lack of 'updated' knowledge' in relation to me 'instinctual' using 'full' format for NDOS disks.

I was just reading your technical information in regards to 128GB HD et al. Excellent information

General theoretical question: I thought the 128GB HD limit was due to the Amiga's hardware limitation but according to your website (If I have read it correctly), the limitation is related to the 3.1 rom! If the rom is the problem, would it be theoretical possible to programme a new Eprom, to accommodate larger HD?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2x-ST-27C800-...M/230400782078

Thanks Roy sounds like a sensible plan

[thomas]

The Kickstart ROM contains drivers for the the IDE and SCSI controllers included on the Amiga's motherboards. Those drivers are limited to 4GB.

If you use third-party hardware like the EIDE'99, even if it connects to the motherboard IDE connector, then you have to refer to the manufacturer of this hardware to get updated drivers. A KS ROM update will not change anything.

As I mentioned above there is a solution for your hardware free of costs. Just download and install the new driver from the Elbox homepage.