Formatting The TT0030's Hard Drive

[Tempest]

Ok I've finally dug my TT030 out of storage and when I booted it up I remembered why I put it into storage in the first place. When I got my TT I found that the hard drive was partitioned in to several drives with alot of crap I didn't want on it, so I decided to format it. Unfortunately I don't think the formatting "took" and now I can't see or access the HD (just the two floppy drives show up). Can anyone walk me through the formatting process?

 

Tempest

[+Sauron]

Did you accidentally format the HD drivers?

[Tempest]

Did you accidentally format the HD drivers?

 

God know what the hell I did. But I did find the disk of HD Drivers that I had made last time I tried to do this, and when I boot from the disk I get this message:

 

Loading...

-----------------------------

Atari Hard Disk Driver

AHDI v4.02 Dec 06 1990

-----------------------------

 

NOT Bootloaded

 

 

Any ideas?

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

I tried running HDX.prg, but when I try and do a format on Unit 0 it says that the physical unit you have selected does not exist.

 

Any ideas?

 

Tempest

[Curt Vendel]

Matt,

 

Okay, what you have to do is run HDX.prg and prep the HD and then install the drivers (basically you need SH204.sys installed onto the HD so that the system will see the drive and load the HD driver)

 

Do you still have that copy of AHDI 6.05 I sent you??? That has all you need, just follow the prompts, its pretty straight forward.

 

 

Curt

[+Sauron]

If I had a HD installed in my Falcon, I might be able to help, but as it is I'm as clueless as you are. Let this be a lesson to you: don't format your TT's HD on a whim.

 

BTW, just something to check...is there any way you can attempt to configure AHDI? I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that it's not bootloaded because it isn't configured to do so from a floppy. Methinks having Diamond Edge (?) would probably be helpful right about now.

 

EDIT: Ok, listen to Curt, not me. Although it almost sounds to me like the drive either isn't partitioned, or maybe an NVRAM problem?

[Tempest]

Okay, what you have to do is run HDX.prg and prep the HD and then install the drivers (basically you need SH204.sys installed onto the HD so that the system will see the drive and load the HD driver)

 

Do you still have that copy of AHDI 6.05 I sent you??? That has all you need, just follow the prompts, its pretty straight forward.

 

Ok I'm running HDX, how do I "Prep" the HD? I can't get HDX to even recognize that the drive is there! I also don't think I have SH204.sys (not that that matters since I cant get the TT to recognize the HD).

 

No I dont have AHDI 6.05, only 4.02. I might be able to snag it off the web some place. Is that the problem?

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

Anyone have AHDI 6.05? I can't find it.

 

Tempest

[belboz]

Here is a version of Ahdi I found on the net way back.

 

No guarantees, but I believe someone put it together with a little doc file also.

ahdi6061.zip

[Tempest]

Ok I tried following those instructions (not quite sure if I did this right), and it came up with this (when booted from the disk):

 

Atari Hard Disk Driver

AHDI 6.061 July 17, 1993

--------------------------------

SCSI Devices:

 

Unit 0 -FUJITSU M2684S-512

Unit 1 - Not Responding

 

ASCI Devices:

 

Unit 0 - Not Responding

--------------------------------

 

Not Bootloaded

 

 

64 FAT/Root

64 Data/Dir Cache Buffers in 2050K

 

CACHEnnn v901121

Copyright 1989-90 Atari Corp.

100 Extra Folers in 13200 Bytes

 

 

Then it just hangs there. Any ideas on what's wrong? I'm getting closer now.

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

Ok I tried reformatting the HD with the HDX program and now it wants to know what type of unit it is: SH204, SH104, SH205, or Other.

 

Help!

 

 

Ok I tried SH204 and it's been sitting at the Formatting screen for a good 15 minutes now. I think something may have gone wrong...

 

Tempest

[belboz]

I did a quick run through of the guys docs.

 

I would just make a floppy and put ahdi.prg in an auto folder and put the rest of the stuff on the disk but not in the auto folder.

 

You shouldn't need the cache and folder fix to setup your hard drive. I would also skip the install icon deal since you can do it manually.

 

Then I would just boot the floppy and see if you get a desktop.

 

Then run hdx.prg from the hdx folder and format and partition your drive.

 

Then run hinstall.prg from the hinstall folder and click install.

 

Then reboot without the floppy and hope!

[belboz]

Other

 

Ok I tried reformatting the HD with the HDX program and now it wants to know what type of unit it is: SH204, SH104, SH205, or Other.  

 

Help!

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

How long does the formatting take? Should I mark bad sectors?

 

Tempest

[belboz]

Been awhile since I formatted an ST HD, but your drive looks to be a 512MB drive. So I think it will take a bit of time (maybe 5-10 minutes??).

 

I would have it map out bad sectors.

 

It has been years since I did this, so it is hazy. Plus I always used ICD's software or HDDRIVER.

 

How long does the formatting take?  Should I mark bad sectors?

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

Plus I always used ICD's software or HDDRIVER.  

 

Is that one better? Got a copy?

 

Incidentally I noticed that my HD light doesn't falsh or even go on. I think the wire is just disconnected, but I'm not 100% sure (I haven't poked around in the case). Is this an easy fix?

 

Tempest

[jens]

Hi.

Formatting a drive on an Atari may take some time. You may wait about half an hour. If that proves to be insufficient do as you like: stop the process or wait some time longer.

Ahdi is just ok with your machine. There's no need to use the icd-software as you don't have an icd-hostadapter.

I would just recommend Scsi-Tools (Hushi) as a replacement for ahdi. Or, if you're ready to pay some money for it, take HdDriver, which is just fantastic. If you use HdDriver and Mint or Magic you can access any Scsi-Drive up to I think 2000 gigs...

Good luck.

[Tempest]

If you use HdDriver and Mint or Magic you can access any Scsi-Drive up to I think 2000 gigs...  

 

MiNT? Magic? Are those different ST operating environments?

 

Tempest

[jens]

Yes. Mint was the first multitasking os for the atari.

MagiC is a mustitasking system from a german software house, http://www.application-systems.de/ who still sell atari software.

[Tempest]

Interesting. What would you recommend? MiNT? Magic? I want to use my TT for playing games (yes I know the TT isn't a game machine) and possibly running a BBS or surfing the web with my ethernet adapter (EtherNEC).

 

There's something out there called STinG as well, but I think that's just a TCP/IP stack and not an OS.

 

Tempest

[jens]

If you like to play around installing your system Mint might be a good thing. To me it seems a bit like linux in this way.

I have MagiC for anything than Cubase (which doesn't like MagiC...).

The system is running quite well.

On a TT I recommend plain tos for gaming and MagiC and a graphics card for www.

What is BBS?

[Tempest]

What is BBS?

 

Bullent Board System. You know, those things you dialed into BEFORE there was a www.

 

Good times...

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

Then run hinstall.prg from the hinstall folder and click install.

 

Ok I tried to do this and got two bombs. Any ideas what's wrong?

 

Tempest

[jens]

No ideas about the bombs. But if needed scsi-tools/hushi are here:

http://www.rsi.pl/paskud/service/scsitool.zip

 

Just unpack and use scsitool.app. It will display a warning that you should ignore as you have no vortex drive. After that it looks for hard disks. Then you can choose options from the menues. You can format and partition your drive. And, afterwards, you can install your driver. This software should work on the computer. If it doesn't, something seems to be wrong with your drive.

 

format: Festplatte - formatieren

 

partition: Partitionen - neu einrichten

 

install driver: Treiber - installieren

 

I think there might occur problems if you aren't able to speak German. If so, you can contact me via icq or mail.

[Tempest]

I tried running the tool and the options for formatting, and partitoning aren't highlighted (although the other program already did that). I tried the install boot sector thing and it said:

 

Unter den angemeldeten GEMDOS Geraten wurde keine geeignete Partition genfunden. Gegebenenfalls Mussen Sie neu booten, um eine frisch paritionierte Platte ansprechen zu konnen!

 

My German is a bit rusty but I think it's telling me that it either can't find the partition or that the partition is no good. I think it's also telling me ot reboot for some reason.

 

Now what?

 

Tempest