CompuServe Thread

Quantum 105S Specs

8 messages in this thread
#2242From: Don Curtis/SYSOPOct 1, 1990 12:13 AM
George, I looked the drive up today…it's a "zoned" drive, that is on some tracks…it has 26 sectors per track, on other tracks, it has 36. It does have 6 heads. Larry Glamb left you a configuration that should work: 6 heads 20 sectors per track 1708 cylinders (numbered 0 thru 1707) Again, the exact configuration doesn't matter, only the number of total sectors. However ALL partitions MUST show the same numbers for their configuration…the only difference would be the starting and ending cylinder numbers. If you don't do that, you'll end up with overlapping partitions and eventuall you will run into problems. Don
#2390From: George D. BrownOct 2, 1990 8:49 AM
Don, thanks for the information. I am work but I will try it as soon as I get home this evening. This has really been a learning excercise. I understand that the number of total sectors it what's important for a SCSI. One question though, in reading through the information on the A2090a about adding a SCSI drive, it mentions PREPing the drive then formating the drive. The PREPing is done on a partition of tracks 0 and 1 (I called it RES2:). Then the remaining tracks (2 through 1707) are formated as a different partition (DH2:). Is this correct? George
#2447From: Don Curtis/SYSOPOct 3, 1990 12:59 AM
George, PREP will ask you how many cylinders for the default filesystem (dh2:). I always make that partition as small as possible (1 cylinder) because it has to be the old filesystem (not FFS). I then create a mountlist for the rest of the drive under the fast file system and mount it during my startup. Don
#2459From: George D. BrownOct 3, 1990 8:03 AM
Don, when you say default file system, is that beyond the first two tracks of the drive which if I understand correctly are needed by amigados? In other words, I set up a partition RES2: on the first two tracks and mount this and then do a PREP RES2: to input the information about the hard disk. I then have a separate partition called DH2: in the mountlist which I didn't realize could not be formatted with FFS. Are RES2: and DH2: suppose to be the same partition or do they need to be different? I hope I am clear. George
#2469From: Dave GrayOct 3, 1990 1:24 PM
George: This gets confusing. RES2: (SCSI address 0) is not a 'real' partition. It is A) the location of the 'hardblocks' that tell the controller what the drive is at boot time, and B) tells prep the location (SCSI address) of the drive. The partition prep asks you about will be auto-mounted at boot. If you have an A2090A (you poor guy!), this partition MUST be OFS, as the fast file system isn't available till Dos is alive, and that happens MUCH later in the sequence. Also, the name the drive gets is fixed, IE, if you have 2 drives, the auto-mount partitions are DH0: and DH1:, and you can't do anything about it. I got screwed on this, as I named my second partition DH1: on my original disk (most utilities don't know from FH1:) when I put a second drive on, my partition vanished! (Actually, failed to mount) I ended up with 2 different mount lists, depending on if I have the second drive connected . (It isn't, most times) YUCK!
#2517From: George D. BrownOct 4, 1990 12:39 AM
Dave, thanks for your explanation. This is beginning to make sense. By the way, with everyones help I have managed to format and partition my drive and modify my startup sequence to mount the partitions. This has taught me a LOT about hard drives! George
#2500From: Don Curtis/SYSOPOct 3, 1990 10:47 PM
George, RES2: is ONLY used once, during PREP. After preping, (and yes, it [res2:] should be 2 cylinders long), it is not necessary to mount it again. What res2: is used for is so on boot up, the system knows you drive's configuration, bad blocks, and the size of the auto-mount partition (dh2:). However, since the automount partition (at least currently) MUST be the old filesystem, I make it as small as possible, 1 cylinder long. During PREP, it will ask you to give it some information about that first partition (actually 2nd…since res2: is the first) that it is going to create as the automount partition. The answers I give are 1 buffer, and last cylinder of 2. I then create a mountlist for cylinders 3 thru the last cylinder on the drive as a fast file system drive. res2: is not a filesystem, it's a configuration storage area only. Make sense? Don
#2518From: George D. BrownOct 4, 1990 12:44 AM
Don, thanks. Yeah! It does make sense. I have the drive formated, partitioned and the partitions mounted. I followed your example and kept DH2: at only one cylinder. Again, thanks. George