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Formatting an Amiga 1200 Hard Drive

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Tempest

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Apr 29, 2006, 5:03:42 PM4/29/06
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I have an Amiga 1200 that I'd like to put a new HD in. I have a nice
3GB lap top hard drive that I think will work just fine, but I can't
get the Amiga to format the drive. When I plug it in, boot with the
workbench install disk, and go to HDToolBox, I can see the drive in the
list as:

SCSI 0 0 Unknown

The help box says I need to change the drive type so the system can
recognize it. So when I go to change drive type and look at the list
of SCSI drives, I don't see it on there (actually I don't see anything
on the list). So I click on define new and tell the system to read the
configuration. Now it will actually detect my drive, but it also wants
to write the new definition to the disk which it obviously cant do (the
disks are write protected) so it craps out on me.

Am I doing something wrong? How do I go about getting the Amiga to
recognize my drive so I can format it?

Valwit

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Apr 29, 2006, 7:08:03 PM4/29/06
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On 29.04.06, Tempest wrote:

> drive, but it also wants to write the new definition to the disk
> which it obviously cant do (the disks are write protected) so it
> craps out on me.

unprotect them?

--
Lukasz "Valwit" Grupa http://valwit.net ICQ:40117364 GG:1591997
......................................................................

Tempest

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Apr 29, 2006, 11:03:48 PM4/29/06
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Tried that, it doesn't work. I get some kind of write error IIRC. I
don't think the install disks were meant to be written to.

Colin

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Apr 29, 2006, 11:15:18 PM4/29/06
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"Tempest" <tem...@atariprotos.com> wrote in message news:1146366228....@j73g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Tried that, it doesn't work. I get some kind of write error IIRC. I
> don't think the install disks were meant to be written to.
>

The `Install` disk must be unwriteprotected so that the new HD definitions file can be created.

But if it`s the HD that`s writeprotected you`ll need a utility that`ll `zerofill` the mbr and sectors.
I know (and have) a utility that will clear the writeprotection/password on a pc (got access to one?)


Tempest

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Apr 30, 2006, 12:38:55 AM4/30/06
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The HD isn't write protected. If I unwrite protect the disk I get an
error:

Install 3.0
has a write error
on disk block 880

Colin

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Apr 30, 2006, 12:58:50 AM4/30/06
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"Tempest" <tem...@atariprotos.com> wrote in message news:1146371935.7...@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

Disk-rot, or df0 drive head may need a clean.
If it`s disk-rot and you have access to another amiga,
you could find an adf of wb3.0 install, and write it back
to another disk.


bobbie sellers

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Apr 30, 2006, 4:22:09 AM4/30/06
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On 29 Apr 2006 20:03:48 -0700,"Tempest", wrote

> Tried that, it doesn't work. I get some kind of write error IIRC. I
> don't think the install disks were meant to be written to.

The first thing the sensible user does is make backup copies of
the original floppies. These can be written to and if they fail you
recopy them. The originals only go in the machine for copying.

But it appears that you are having a problem writing to the
hard disk. Are you using the install disk to boot from?
You need to get the partitions set up so that the RDB can
be defined as a place for the information to be written to,

later
bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - (Back to Angband) Team *AMIGA*
Formerly of AWest - San Francisco's Amiga Users Group

Tempest

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Apr 30, 2006, 6:55:02 PM4/30/06
to
>> But it appears that you are having a problem writing to the
hard disk. Are you using the install disk to boot from?
You need to get the partitions set up so that the RDB can
be defined as a place for the information to be written to,

Yes I'm booting from the install disk. How do I get the partitions
set up?

bobbie sellers

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Apr 30, 2006, 9:59:58 PM4/30/06
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On 30 Apr 2006 15:55:02 -0700,"Tempest", wrote

You should see a button on the HDToolbox interface that will
allow you to enter the partioning part of the HDToolbox interface
and select various parameters including booting and the various
filesystems.

You might want to do an online search for the Amiga HD manual
for more information on using the HDToolBox and setting its options.
I learned about using this tool and others from documents I found
in Usenet Newsgroups and thru mailing lists. I used to use RDPrep
which in the earlier OSes had great information but hadn't been
updated
in a long time. Nowadays I use CyberSCSI which is adapted to my
Blizzard 68060 card with SCSI interface.

Current project is setting up a dual boot on my x86 laptop form
factor portable between Linux and Windows XP Home. But I will use
the Amiga 2000b as long as I can.

Tempest

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Apr 30, 2006, 11:05:41 PM4/30/06
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The only button that's selectable is the change drive type button. The
partition button isn't lit.

Valwit

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May 1, 2006, 1:08:37 AM5/1/06
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On 01.05.06, Tempest wrote:

> The only button that's selectable is the change drive type button.
> The partition button isn't lit.

Are you sure the harddrive itself isn't write protected? Can you tell us
the exact name and type of the drive?

Tempest

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May 1, 2006, 10:05:52 AM5/1/06
to
Hmm... Good point. I'll check when I get home. It's an IBM Travelstar
or something like that.

Valwit

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May 1, 2006, 1:23:30 PM5/1/06
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On 01.05.06, Tempest wrote:

> Hmm... Good point. I'll check when I get home. It's an IBM
> Travelstar or something like that.

They shouldn't have any "special" jumper requirements. A 20 GB
travelstar forks fine with my Amiga. Maybe give "HDInstTools" a try?

Peter Corlett

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May 2, 2006, 9:06:52 AM5/2/06
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Colin <colm...@gmail.com> wrote:
[...]

> The `Install` disk must be unwriteprotected so that the new HD definitions
> file can be created.

... or just copy HDToolbox to RAM: and run it from there.

--
PGP key ID E85DC776 - finger ab...@mooli.org.uk for full key

Colin

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May 2, 2006, 10:41:50 AM5/2/06
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"Peter Corlett" <ab...@dopiaza.cabal.org.uk> wrote in message news:4457596c$0$8337$da0f...@news.zen.co.uk...

Good idea.


Lovrenco Vladislavic

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May 4, 2006, 6:11:56 AM5/4/06
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I've had the same problem when i've removed IBM HDD 850 MB and put Toshiba
HDD 2.1 GB on A1200. HDtools said that it can't write on DF0 (Install
floppy) and could'nt write toshiba disk info on floppy. I got clean Install
disk (written from ADF image with adfblitzer), and
did the read disk data process again. All went OK.

If this helps.....


"Valwit" <leave.only.th...@valwit.net> wrote in message
news:Yam2NN.AmigaOS....@imladris.valwit.net...

Tempest

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May 7, 2006, 12:06:16 AM5/7/06
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Copying it to the RAM Disk worked. Thanks.

Tempest

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May 7, 2006, 1:34:54 AM5/7/06
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Ok now I have one last question (not hardware related, but indulge me).
How do I copy one directory to another using AmigaShell? Basically
what I want to do is use WinUAE to copy a directory full of games from
my PC to the new Amiga HD I just formatted. I have WinUAE recognizing
both the HD and the directory (as another HD), but for the life of me I
can't figure out how to do a wildcard copy in AmigaShell (copy pchd:*
amigahd:* doesn't work).

Graham Prout

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May 7, 2006, 4:18:16 AM5/7/06
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you need to type "copy source/#? destination /all" this will copy all files
from one dir to another, "copy source(directory) destination /all" will copy
one dir plus contents to another place or device.


Regards

Graham


zipper

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May 7, 2006, 5:45:13 AM5/7/06
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In AmigaDos w/o the backlash.
copy [from] <source> [to] <destination> [all] [clone] [quiet]...
.

kimnach

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May 7, 2006, 7:34:38 PM5/7/06
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In article <1146344622.0...@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com>,
tem...@atariprotos.com says...

>
>
>I have an Amiga 1200 that I'd like to put a new HD in. I have a nice
>3GB lap top hard drive that I think will work just fine, but I can't
>get the Amiga to format the drive. When I plug it in, boot with the
>workbench install disk, and go to HDToolBox, I can see the drive in the
>list as:
>
>SCSI 0 0 Unknown
>

i had similar problems on occassion. (and similarly on a pc.) i found
that if the amiga couldn't format the drive, a complete formatting on an
adaptec controller allowed the amiga to then successfully format.
vice-versa on the pc.

--
regards,
greg (non-hyphenated american)
http://users.adelphia.net/~kimnach

Graham Prout

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May 8, 2006, 3:04:45 AM5/8/06
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said it was a long time since i had done things like this.


Regards

Graham


Tempest

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May 9, 2006, 4:38:18 PM5/9/06
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Ok everything seems to work now. One little thing that's bothering me
is that the disk drive appears to be making a faint clicking noise,
even when it's not being accessed. The drive works just fine though.
I wonder if I didn't damage it somehow when I took the case off and put
it back on?

Valwit

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May 9, 2006, 10:48:16 PM5/9/06
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On 09.05.06, Tempest wrote:

> Ok everything seems to work now. One little thing that's bothering
> me is that the disk drive appears to be making a faint clicking
> noise, even when it's not being accessed.

that's normal. it checks for changes. there are a lot of utillities that
will stop it. just check the aminet

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