Please help how to replace A600 Hard Disk?

Rich M · 19 January 2005, 07:14

I got this A600 with a malfunction hdd and I wanted to replace the hdd.
I have with me a brand new laptop hdd 20GB but I don't have a clear idea on how to use it to replace the A600 HDD.
The A600 has KS 2.1 and still has the IDE cable that once the old HDD connected to.

Will the A600 detect a 20GB laptop hard disk? I heard only few GB will be detected by an A600?
Then I have this problem on how to load the WB and all related software into the new 20GB HDD.

Please help thanks

thomas · 19 January 2005, 08:39

First of all you need the AmigaOS Install disk which contains HDToolbox. Alternatively you can use HDInstTool from Aminet.

Once the new HDD is connected, boot from floppy and run one of the mentioned partitioning tools.

The size of the HDD does not matter at first, it should be detected anyway. However the drive geometry might be detected wrongly and you have to correct it manually. The correct geometry should be printed on the drive case or be available on the manufacturer's homepage. The size which is calculated from the geometry will also be reported wrongly.

When it comes to create partitions make sure that you only use the first 4GB of the drive. Leave the rest empty (16GB without partitions). If you use a single byte above the 4GB border, you run in danger to loose all data on the HDD once you access this byte. Note that the first two cylinders cannot be used for partitions (they contain the partition table) but do count for the 4GB, so only about 3.9GB can be used actually.

There are patches to overcome the 4GB limit, but I think this is too much afford and needs too much memory of the already very limited A600.

19 January 2005, 07:14	#1
Rich M Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Tokyo, Japan Age: 46 Posts: 23	Please help how to replace A600 Hard Disk? I got this A600 with a malfunction hdd and I wanted to replace the hdd. I have with me a brand new laptop hdd 20GB but I don't have a clear idea on how to use it to replace the A600 HDD. The A600 has KS 2.1 and still has the IDE cable that once the old HDD connected to. Will the A600 detect a 20GB laptop hard disk? I heard only few GB will be detected by an A600? Then I have this problem on how to load the WB and all related software into the new 20GB HDD. Please help thanks

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19 January 2005, 08:39	#2
thomas Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 7,026	First of all you need the AmigaOS Install disk which contains HDToolbox. Alternatively you can use HDInstTool from Aminet. Once the new HDD is connected, boot from floppy and run one of the mentioned partitioning tools. The size of the HDD does not matter at first, it should be detected anyway. However the drive geometry might be detected wrongly and you have to correct it manually. The correct geometry should be printed on the drive case or be available on the manufacturer's homepage. The size which is calculated from the geometry will also be reported wrongly. When it comes to create partitions make sure that you only use the first 4GB of the drive. Leave the rest empty (16GB without partitions). If you use a single byte above the 4GB border, you run in danger to loose all data on the HDD once you access this byte. Note that the first two cylinders cannot be used for partitions (they contain the partition table) but do count for the 4GB, so only about 3.9GB can be used actually. There are patches to overcome the 4GB limit, but I think this is too much afford and needs too much memory of the already very limited A600.

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