What exactly are the limitations of the A600 ATA interface?

vext01 · 08 August 2013, 16:02

Hi,

I recently aquired an A600 and immediately stuck a CF in there. I have been able to install WB on a small 100 MB partition at the beginning of the disk. I then wanted to make 'Apps', 'Work' and 'Media' partitions as I am planning on messing about with Music-X and octamed.

Partitioning was easy, but so far I have been unable to format all of these these partitions. As far as I know, the limitations I have to work with are:

* No partition > 2GB
* Sum of all partition sizes < 4GB

I am playing by these rules, but inevitably, the media partition (which IIRC is 1.8GB) fails to format at the last stage with "Not a DOS partition" (or word to that effect).

I can't help but think that there is another restriction. Does anyone know what it may be? Perhaps 4 partitions is too many? I am using a stock A600 with kickstart 2 37.350 and 1MB of RAM.

As a side note, formatting takes ages. Is there a faster way? I can't use SFS on an A600 AFAIK.

Cheers

demolition · 08 August 2013, 16:09

You should be able to use up to 8GB cards and up to 4GB on the boot partition using the standard scsi.device and direct SCSI, like you can with PFS3-AIO.

Using FFS, up to 4GB total should be fine (what I had in my A600, although it has now been converted to PFS3).

The capabilities of the A1200 IDE controller are the same as the one in the 600.

Edit: And just use quick format, then it won't take long.

Turran · 08 August 2013, 16:10

You can use PFS3-AIO on A600. I do. Although I doubt that is the cause of the failure here.

And always do a quick format, never full.

Edit: Beaten to it =)

vext01 · 08 August 2013, 16:11

Hrm, that does not explain why I am unable to format the partition. All seems in check.

thomas · 08 August 2013, 16:32

You need a lot of RAM to format big partitions with FFS. With only 1MB RAM you are limited to a few hundred meg.

Turran · 08 August 2013, 16:45

I just sold an A600 with 4GB PFS3-AIO and could format it all. Had to keep the buffers quite low though, but try that.

Cheatcodes:

http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3aio

PFS\03 = 0x50465303
PDS\03 = 0x50445303

Mask = 0x7ffffffe (There are 6 f’s)
MaxTransfer = 0x1fe00
Blocksize = 512

PFS3\Tools\pfsformat device DH1: Name Work Quick fnsize 107 NOICONS

vext01 · 10 August 2013, 00:00

Thanks for the comments so far. I have not tried PFS yet, but I have diagnosed the FFS problem.

I was able to reproduce the issue under fs-uae. Then I bumped the emulated chip memory to 2MB and it disappeared. You need quite some memory to format partitions it seems...

Lord Aga · 10 August 2013, 13:32

Well, you couldn't do much with just 1Mb of RAM anyway

It would leave about 800K (700K maybe for a more filled system ?) after booting.

08 August 2013, 16:02	#1
vext01 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: UK Posts: 137	What exactly are the limitations of the A600 ATA interface? Hi, I recently aquired an A600 and immediately stuck a CF in there. I have been able to install WB on a small 100 MB partition at the beginning of the disk. I then wanted to make 'Apps', 'Work' and 'Media' partitions as I am planning on messing about with Music-X and octamed. Partitioning was easy, but so far I have been unable to format all of these these partitions. As far as I know, the limitations I have to work with are: * No partition > 2GB * Sum of all partition sizes < 4GB I am playing by these rules, but inevitably, the media partition (which IIRC is 1.8GB) fails to format at the last stage with "Not a DOS partition" (or word to that effect). I can't help but think that there is another restriction. Does anyone know what it may be? Perhaps 4 partitions is too many? I am using a stock A600 with kickstart 2 37.350 and 1MB of RAM. As a side note, formatting takes ages. Is there a faster way? I can't use SFS on an A600 AFAIK. Cheers

08 August 2013, 16:45	#6
Turran Moderator Join Date: May 2012 Location: Stockholm / Sweden Age: 49 Posts: 1,575	I just sold an A600 with 4GB PFS3-AIO and could format it all. Had to keep the buffers quite low though, but try that. Cheatcodes: http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3aio PFS\03 = 0x50465303 PDS\03 = 0x50445303 Mask = 0x7ffffffe (There are 6 f’s) MaxTransfer = 0x1fe00 Blocksize = 512 PFS3\Tools\pfsformat device DH1: Name Work Quick fnsize 107 NOICONS Last edited by Turran; 08 August 2013 at 17:12.

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08 August 2013, 16:09	#2
demolition Unregistered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Copenhagen / DK Age: 44 Posts: 4,190	You should be able to use up to 8GB cards and up to 4GB on the boot partition using the standard scsi.device and direct SCSI, like you can with PFS3-AIO. Using FFS, up to 4GB total should be fine (what I had in my A600, although it has now been converted to PFS3). The capabilities of the A1200 IDE controller are the same as the one in the 600. Edit: And just use quick format, then it won't take long.

08 August 2013, 16:10	#3
Turran Moderator Join Date: May 2012 Location: Stockholm / Sweden Age: 49 Posts: 1,575	You can use PFS3-AIO on A600. I do. Although I doubt that is the cause of the failure here. And always do a quick format, never full. Edit: Beaten to it =)

08 August 2013, 16:11	#4
vext01 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: UK Posts: 137	Hrm, that does not explain why I am unable to format the partition. All seems in check.

08 August 2013, 16:32	#5
thomas Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 7,035	You need a lot of RAM to format big partitions with FFS. With only 1MB RAM you are limited to a few hundred meg.

10 August 2013, 00:00	#7
vext01 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: UK Posts: 137	Thanks for the comments so far. I have not tried PFS yet, but I have diagnosed the FFS problem. I was able to reproduce the issue under fs-uae. Then I bumped the emulated chip memory to 2MB and it disappeared. You need quite some memory to format partitions it seems...

10 August 2013, 13:32	#8
Lord Aga MI clan prevails Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Belgrade, Serbia Posts: 1,443	Well, you couldn't do much with just 1Mb of RAM anyway It would leave about 800K (700K maybe for a more filled system ?) after booting.

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