Second HD On The Buddha Using HDTOOLBOX

Note: I am using Kickstart 3.2 and OS3.2 which can use large HD's.

1. With the power off connect a second HD to the right IDE port on the Buddha, REMEMBER TO REMOVE THE JUMPER!! Power on.

2. Make a copy of HDTOOLBOX in the Tools Folder and rename it to BuddhaHDToolBox.

3 Right click on the icon, select icon, change scsi.device to buddhascsi.device, change max address to 3, max lun to 3 and save it (I don't think it matters but I did).

4. Open BuddhaToolBox and you should see two devices chose address 2 and chose change drive type. DO NOT choose address 0, that is your boot HD!

5. From here you can follow the manual. When you partition the new drive chose default and rename the new drives do not make them bootable.

6. When you get to read the new drive configuration may fail, fill in the manufactures Name with model number and give it a Drive Version if you can find it or make something up like 3.AC and try it again.

7. Save changes and exit. It will ask you to reboot.

8 You should have two new drives. Format each drive using quick format. If you chose format, it will take hours for each drive. Chose format if you suspect bad sectors.

9. Now you can drag your files to the new drives for backup. Copy disk.info from your BDH0 to the new partitions to give them a new look.

If you have problems contact me.

Jens

Another program that shows that Buddha creates a non-Amiga DOS partition is SysInfo, something to do with a missing or nonstandard partition table or RDB. SysInfo is just an information tool. QBT I have used back in the 90s and used on my SCSI HDs just prior to getting the new Buddha this year to maintain my SCSI HD and worked quite well. Now that I have QBT V1.5 and V2.0.2 I am unable to use as it will destroy the HD drive and will need to be reinstall by the Buddha and reinstall ALL the OS and files. I have yet to find a replacement!

Using BuddhaHDToolBOX I have partitioned my second HD on the right IDE port a Western Digital 320gb HD and made 2 155gb partitions and booted from it. Great job Buddha. This was a test I do not plan to use it. Some where I have 750gb HD to try. One note DO NOT use any Hitachi Deskstar HD they are prone to fail.

Jens

In computing, a rigid disk block (RDB) is the block on a hard disk where the Amiga series of computers store the disk's partition and filesystem information. The IBM's PC equivalent of the Amiga's RDB is the master boot record (MBR).

Unlike its PC equivalent, the RDB doesn't directly contain metadata for each partition. Instead, it points to a linked list of partition blocks, which contain the actual partition data. The partition data includes the start, length, filesystem, boot priority, buffer memory type and "flavor", though the latter was never used. Because there is no limitation in partition block count, there is no need to distinguish primary and extended types and all partitions are equal in stature and architecture.

Additionally, it may point to additional filesystem drivers, allowing the Amiga to boot from filesystems not directly supported by the ROM, such as PFS or SFS.

The data in the rigid disk block must start with the ASCII bytes "RDSK". Furthermore, its position is not restricted to the very first block of a volume, instead it could be located anywhere within its first 16 blocks. Thus it could safely coexist with a master boot record, which is forced to be found at block 0.

Nearly all Amiga hard disk controllers support the RDB standard, enabling the user to exchange disks between controllers.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't have time or the knowledge to investigate The RDB issue. I am pointing out that the buddha is not following the RDB standard causing issues with QBT, SysInfo, HDToolBox and other utilities and programs that use the RDB.

Does the buddha create a bad block table, so a utility could be written to scan the HD for errors. A utility could do this but the buddha needs to know not to use the bad blocks or the program must mark them as in use.

Frank

Using QBT I checked BDH0: boot block 0 and it PFS.

Quote from Jens

Based on what information?

Bad block tables are not used any more. They have been phased out before the Amiga started using harddisks.

Then why does HDToolBox Have a way to "Modify Bad Block List" this proves it!

Using QBT BDH0: Boot Block 0 shows PFS. Should be RDSK. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia describes the Amiga Boot system.

I will do this to my scsi drive and see what Boot Block 0 shows.

Quote from Jens

Correct. BTW, feature confirmed by the Wikipedia exerpt you've quoted.

It only proves that the software has a very old codebase. Bad block lists are not maintained by the OS any more - this task has been moved into the mass-storage device long ago.

RDSK is the designator for the rigid disk block, PFS for the file system ("professional file system"). QBT will show an entry within the RDB, but most likely not the block itself. Do a raw-read on the first blocks, make a hex dump - that'll show the RDB.

I looked at the few block all the way to where I saw BDH0: I will compare it with the SCSI. I don't have a printer connected to the Amiga, I have run out of Epson dot matrix printers about 25 years ago. the only way is by taking a picture with my camera.

I used SysInfo V4.4 and it shows the hard drive speed is 2.2mb/s not bad. I will compare it with the SCSI drive. Its 23:53 MST and I need to get some sleep.

Jens

Buddha has PFS as the ONLY option for a filesystem. Is there a flash update that allows Fast File System?

The buddha must be compatible with the Amiga SCSI file system that is the standard! I should be able take a A1200 IDE HD and attach it to the buddha and it should work, with the same or compatible kickstart version. The buddha HD should be compatible with the A1200.

Thanks for the info on ffs.

I Formatted my SCSI drive using HDToolBox with OS3.2 ROMS and OS3.2 QBT 1.5 and 2.0.2 worked perfectly. The DDH0 had a DOS boot at block zero. So much for the QBT not being compatible with the NEW OS.

Quote from Jens

Boot block != Root block.

Boot block != Root block.......Root Block!=Boot Block= Moot Point, I was stating just what QBT description of the problem stated.

Jens

At this point the buddha is working great, I haven't had a need to use the repair file. I found that there is PFSDoctor program that checks the files.

Have you heard of it, and do you know where to download it? I am going to use smallest HD that Uses SMART and allow the HD OS to handle any errors. Do you know of away for the Amiga to show the SMART file on the drive? After learning more about the PFS system I see that it is much better than FFS. All along I thought it was a file system just for the buddha because I never heard of it.

Quote from thebajaguy

Pulling S.M.A.R.T. data from the 'pages' of the disk drive command and data environment are more an art than a science. It's about what was implemented (if at all) by the device manufacturer, and if they understood what they read into the specs, and how it may apply to their implementation (if they spent the R&D to do much at all). You can dig up a good amount of data on S.M.A.R.T. from the Linux SCSI implementations, but for the most part, you would be doing direct driver (HD_SCSI_CMD) type commands to the interface of the IDE device.

I did some research and found that the SMART not standardized on all hard drives. So ...better to forget it. Thanks

Jens

files.lha has two programs, pfsdoctor and Install. I used DOpus to do the hard work.

I found pfsdoctor, copy it to your C directory, it needs to run in a shell pfsdorctor ? is the list of commands. Example: pfsdoctor BDH0 check will scan BDHO and check all files on the partition (no colon).

I also included Install replacement for Install in Buddha_CD_Install directory. Make a copy of BuddhaInstall DOM to your work partition. Open the Buddha_CD_Install directory. Rename the original Install to Installbak then copy my Install to the directory and rename Installbak.info to Install.info. With a CD drive connected run FindDevice you should see buddhascsi.device, select it and your CD drive should be listed. Run Install and just follow the prompts. This does NOT modify the DOM just the copy. You can replace it on the DOM at your risk.