Setting up 32GB Compact Flash in A1200

[chromium]

Hi all,

I got myself a 32GB compact flash card to put in my Amiga 1200.
There is a lot of information and misinformation about the best way to set this up and I was wondering if there is a definitive guide anywhere or if you clever folk can help me get this going.

I currently have an 8GB Compact Flash in there split into 2 partitions. I've heard that it's quite possible to use a 32GB drive and just have one big partition.

Cheers.

[demolition]

I don't think it is possible to boot from a 32GB partition using the standard IDE port, at least not using a standard kickstart. For non-boot partitions, you can soft-load another scsi.device to enable larger partitions.

As for your question, there's quite a lot of 'definitive' guides out there but when I had to try it myself, they all had some mistakes which meant it wouldn't work. Thus, I had to combine the information from several places.

[chromium]

Originally Posted by demolition

I don't think it is possible to boot from a 32GB partition using the standard IDE port, at least not using a standard kickstart. For non-boot partitions, you can soft-load another scsi.device to enable larger partitions.

As for your question, there's quite a lot of 'definitive' guides out there but when I had to try it myself, they all had some mistakes which meant it wouldn't work. Thus, I had to combine the information from several places.

Maybe you can write the guide
Or at least point me to the information that you used.

So I'd need to create small boot partition and then I could create one big partition for the rest?

[demolition]

I can't remember exactly where I got the information.

Yes, use a smaller (<4GB) partition for booting, and the rest on a 2nd partition.

I used PFS3-AIO as filesystem. It has good performance and is safe for use on partitions above 4G:
http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3aio

Then I used scsi.device 43.45 (I think) to get support for high capacity partitions. It was included in ClassicWB. I have made a custom kickstart with this one which is maprom'ed to my ACA accelerator. So on first startup, it can only see my boot partition, does the maprom, reboots, and then all partitions are available.

The key points in configuring the partition is to load the pfs3_aio-handler as a file system inside HDToolbox, set the name to PDS\3, choose PDS\3 for all partitions, set maxtransfer to 0x1fe00, save & reboot, quick format partitions (I used PFSFormat but the regular format should work as well) and off you go.

[thomas]

Originally Posted by chromium

I've heard that it's quite possible to use a 32GB drive and just have one big partition.

Should be obvious that the boot partition must be accessible by ROM components, because RAM is empty at power-on. If you have a ROM with scsi.device V45 or an expansion with an IDE controller and its own driver in ROM, you can make a 32GB boot partition.

But if you only have an original Kickstart 3.1 ROM, the boot partition must be completely inside the first 4GB of the drive.

Other parts of the disk might be made accessible by components you load from your boot partition. If your boot partition does not load updated drivers, you cannot access anything but the first 4GB of the drive.

Originally Posted by demolition

Then I used scsi.device 43.45 (I think) to get support for high capacity partitions.

You cannot increase the partition size limit by changing scsi.device. A .device driver only sees the harddrive entirely, it does not know about partitions. You can only increase the harddisk size limit with a new scsi.device.

Partitions are made by DOS and the file system. So you can increase the partition size limit by using a different file system (what you did, too).

[chromium]

Originally Posted by thomas

But if you only have an original Kickstart 3.1 ROM, the boot partition must be completely inside the first 4GB of the drive.

I only have 3.0, will that be even more of an issue or will 4GB be ok still?

Thanks for the info. So I'd need a custom from to boot from a 32GB partition, that makes sense.

[fitzsteve]

Why do you want a 32gb boot partition?

Ideally you should keep it small, 500mb for example is more then enough for any Amiga OS, you can make the rest one big partition if you like. (You should use a file system like SFS/PFS3 though)

KS3.0 is fine, even for Workbench 3.1 and has the same 4gb limit as KS3.1 once you patch the scsi.device you have the large Disk support.

The main advantage of keeping the boot partition small is that if something goes wrong you can quickly and easily restore it from a backup you can keep on another partition.

[chromium]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Why do you want a 32gb boot partition?

Ideally you should keep it small, 500mb for example is more then enough for any Amiga OS, you can make the rest one big partition if you like.

KS3.0 is fine, even for Workbench 3.1 and has the same 4gb limit as KS3.1 once you patch the scsi.device you have the large Disk support.

The main advantage of keeping the boor partition small is that if something goes wrong you can quickly and easily restore it from a backup you can keep on another partition.

Yeah, I don't really want a 32GB boot partition, just thought if it was doable I'd have a crack for the challenge

So I'll probably make a 500mb boot and the rest in another big partition.

I haven't messed with my Amiga seriously in 15 years. So I'll have to learn a lot again. Never used Classic WB either. I assume that is the way to go.

[fitzsteve]

ps. I made a Video guide but it only covers patching the scsi.device with Classic Workbench or OS3.9:

[ Show youtube player ]

[chromium]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

ps. I made a Video guide but it only covers patching the scsi.device with Classic Workbench or OS3.9:

[ Show youtube player ]

Nice, I just subscribed to your channel

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by chromium

Nice, I just subscribed to your channel

Cheers!

I hope it helps, just one thing to note - You will have to update your Kickstart to 3.1 if you want to use OS3.9 unless you have some way to load in a custom Rom like Blizkick or ACA's Maprom.

Late in the Video I show patching the scsi.device via one of the Classic Workbench packs based on 3.1, this would work in your current setup.

[Toni Wilen]

Only way to have >8G support (up to 32G) using built-in IDE without patches is to use SD to IDE adapter that returns "illegal" ATA CHS values. Check FAQ (http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=61666) for details.

[fitzsteve]

Here is my basic guide for setting up Classic Workbench, it will probably be teaching you to suck eggs but might serve as a refresher for some things and guides you through setting up Classic Workbench from scratch for the first time

[ Show youtube player ]

[chromium]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Cheers!

I hope it helps, just one thing to note - You will have to update your Kickstart to 3.1 if you want to use OS3.9 unless you have some way to load in a custom Rom like Blizkick or ACA's Maprom.

Hmmm, I might have to do grab a kickstart 3.1 chip, I've never looked into it, are the roms socketed on most A1200s?

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by chromium

Hmmm, I might have to do grab a kickstart 3.1 chip, I've never looked into it, are the roms socketed on most A1200s?

Yeah Roms are socketed

I have a spare set, I'll PM you in a bit.

[chromium]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Yeah Roms are socketed

I have a spare set, I'll PM you in a bit.

Ahh, sweet. Thanks.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by thomas

You cannot increase the partition size limit by changing scsi.device. A .device driver only sees the harddrive entirely, it does not know about partitions. You can only increase the harddisk size limit with a new scsi.device.

Thanks for the correction. I did mean to write disk size limit, but had a minor brain fart.

[chromium]

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Would this make my life easier?