Amiga 500 GVP-A500-HD+

heALer · 09 September 2010, 20:05

Hi!
I have two questions about GVP A500-HD+ series II with 8 mb fastram.
Whats the differents between A500-HD+ and A500-HD8+?

Can I put a ordinary IDE-harddrive from a PC in the GVP A500-HD+?
I've heared that one partition can't be more than 2GB is that true? How big can the entire drive be?

Well, that was more than two questions I think, but hope you can answer them.
I'm new here in this forum, just want to say thank you!
cheers

Zetr0 · 09 September 2010, 21:35

Hiyas heALer

the GVP A500HD8+ and the A500HD+ are identical units.

the adapter using the 4.15 GVP ROM from RalphBables site I was able to prepare a 4GB SCSI Disk under FFS for my A500+

its working perfectly well and I have not had any problems with the disk at all.

The A500HD8/+ unit only uses SCSI SE/LVD disks and is limmited to 4GB and under harddisks.

The Unit also has an internal 50pin connector and an external 25pin connector. - it should also come with its own power supply - which if you are using a SCSI hardisk I would sincerely recommend using

heALer · 10 September 2010, 06:15

Thanks for your reply, so the harddrive that i'm going to put into the gvp must be a scsi and not an ide? I have some harddrives from an old pc-server on 16gb each and they were connected to a scsi controller, so you think one of those will work? Maybe I have to split the drive i small partitions. Thanks

alexh · 10 September 2010, 08:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by heALer

Thanks for your reply, so the harddrive that i'm going to put into the gvp must be a scsi and not an ide?

Must be SCSI or IDE with a SCSI->IDE adapter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by heALer

I have some harddrives from an old pc-server on 16gb each and they were connected to a scsi controller, so you think one of those will work?

I don't know the subtleties of the GVP SCSI ROM with respect to larger drives. With the right adapter (GVP-HD+ is 50-pin Narrow SCSI 1) it has a chance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by heALer

Maybe I have to split the drive i small partitions. Thanks

Without a doubt. And you'll have to use a newer version of HDToolbox etc. to prep the drive.

But there is a chance the GVP HD8+ ROM won't even be discover the drive.

rkauer · 10 September 2010, 09:02

With the original ROM the drive will not be recognized at all. ROM 4.15 only run with 4Gb HD or less.

But there is a trick I did, but of course you'll remove the auto-booting feature of the expansion: create a boot disk with the OS version reflecting the ROM in the 500.

To that disk copy from the GVP install disk the system mover tool called defdisk (it is on the GVP_utils drawer). From Ralph Babel site you can download the binddriver version of GVP.ROM that accept any size of HD. Put that archive uncompressed inside the EXPANSION drawer of the boot floppy.

Presto! The boot floppy will load the Guru.ROM from the expansion drawer, then the mover utility will pass the command to the HD. Any size of HD can be used this way.

alexh · 10 September 2010, 09:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkauer

Presto! The boot floppy will load the Guru.ROM from the expansion drawer, then the mover utility will pass the command to the HD.

Guru.ROM?? You mean gvpscsi?

How come the bind-driver version of gvpscsi can handle any size disk but the ROM version cannot?

heALer · 10 September 2010, 11:29

Okej thanks, i will try the drive see what happens, if it doesnt work i'll find a smaller one. Question about the fastram, whats 8mb fastram doing for good? Good for games or programs, maybe a stupid questio but is it better to have a lot of fastram and only 1mb chipram or vice versa?

ajk · 10 September 2010, 11:37

Well, you can only have a maximum of 2 megs of chip RAM in any Amiga. So if the options are 2 megs of chip or 1 meg of chip + 8 fast, you'd want to have the latter in almost all cases. Fast RAM helps a lot with pretty much anything.

rkauer · 11 September 2010, 01:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

Guru.ROM?? You mean gvpscsi?

How come the bind-driver version of gvpscsi can handle any size disk but the ROM version cannot?

The version available on Ralph's page is the guru.rom, believe it or not. I was able to mount a 18Gb HD using it on my SCSI+8 that I wasn't able using the 4.15 physical ROM. Of course I have another controller on the A2000 to auto-boot from.

But the principle is the same: don't allow the card to autoboot from its ROM, use the binddriver GURU.ROM via a boot floppy and transfer the control of the system to the HD.

heALer · 09 October 2010, 13:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

Must be SCSI or IDE with a SCSI->IDE adapter.

Should that be a 50pin SCSI to IDE? Anyone know where I can get one?
Hmm, maybe I could have a SCSI to 2.5" IDE, and then a IDE CF-card holder and have a compact flash instead in the GVP?

alexh · 09 October 2010, 16:55

Ebay they come up all the time. Acard AEC-7720U is one, Yamaha V769970 another and there is another but it's name escapes me.

You can use CF card if you want to but physical space is a premium so take care which adapter cards you get. Angles etc.

heALer · 09 October 2010, 17:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

Ebay they come up all the time. Acard AEC-7720U is one, Yamaha V769970 another and there is another but it's name escapes me.

You can use CF card if you want to but physical space is a premium so take care which adapter cards you get. Angles etc.

Ah thank you =)

rkauer · 09 October 2010, 20:29

The one Alexh missed is the R-IDSC21 or the (now ancient) IDSC21 (both made by IO-DATA)

09 September 2010, 20:05	#1
heALer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Sweden Posts: 55	Amiga 500 GVP-A500-HD+ Hi! I have two questions about GVP A500-HD+ series II with 8 mb fastram. Whats the differents between A500-HD+ and A500-HD8+? Can I put a ordinary IDE-harddrive from a PC in the GVP A500-HD+? I've heared that one partition can't be more than 2GB is that true? How big can the entire drive be? Well, that was more than two questions I think, but hope you can answer them. I'm new here in this forum, just want to say thank you! cheers

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09 September 2010, 21:35	#2
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	Hiyas heALer the GVP A500HD8+ and the A500HD+ are identical units. the adapter using the 4.15 GVP ROM from RalphBables site I was able to prepare a 4GB SCSI Disk under FFS for my A500+ its working perfectly well and I have not had any problems with the disk at all. The A500HD8/+ unit only uses SCSI SE/LVD disks and is limmited to 4GB and under harddisks. The Unit also has an internal 50pin connector and an external 25pin connector. - it should also come with its own power supply - which if you are using a SCSI hardisk I would sincerely recommend using

10 September 2010, 06:15	#3
heALer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Sweden Posts: 55	Thanks for your reply, so the harddrive that i'm going to put into the gvp must be a scsi and not an ide? I have some harddrives from an old pc-server on 16gb each and they were connected to a scsi controller, so you think one of those will work? Maybe I have to split the drive i small partitions. Thanks

10 September 2010, 09:02	#5
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	With the original ROM the drive will not be recognized at all. ROM 4.15 only run with 4Gb HD or less. But there is a trick I did, but of course you'll remove the auto-booting feature of the expansion: create a boot disk with the OS version reflecting the ROM in the 500. To that disk copy from the GVP install disk the system mover tool called defdisk (it is on the GVP_utils drawer). From Ralph Babel site you can download the binddriver version of GVP.ROM that accept any size of HD. Put that archive uncompressed inside the EXPANSION drawer of the boot floppy. Presto! The boot floppy will load the Guru.ROM from the expansion drawer, then the mover utility will pass the command to the HD. Any size of HD can be used this way.

10 September 2010, 11:29	#7
heALer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Sweden Posts: 55	Okej thanks, i will try the drive see what happens, if it doesnt work i'll find a smaller one. Question about the fastram, whats 8mb fastram doing for good? Good for games or programs, maybe a stupid questio but is it better to have a lot of fastram and only 1mb chipram or vice versa?

10 September 2010, 11:37	#8
ajk Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: Helsinki, Finland Posts: 1,341	Well, you can only have a maximum of 2 megs of chip RAM in any Amiga. So if the options are 2 megs of chip or 1 meg of chip + 8 fast, you'd want to have the latter in almost all cases. Fast RAM helps a lot with pretty much anything.

09 October 2010, 16:55	#11
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,600	Ebay they come up all the time. Acard AEC-7720U is one, Yamaha V769970 another and there is another but it's name escapes me. You can use CF card if you want to but physical space is a premium so take care which adapter cards you get. Angles etc.

09 October 2010, 20:29	#13
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	The one Alexh missed is the R-IDSC21 or the (now ancient) IDSC21 (both made by IO-DATA)

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