SFS and PFS

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ThatGuy02
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SFS and PFS

Post by ThatGuy02 »

I don't have any Amiga, and I'm not even a special fan of microcomputers (probably because it's not my time and I started with a PC), only when I was a teenager I played the C64 passionately, a little later I licked the Atari 800XL and that's my whole adventure with these inventions. The hacked Sony and MS consoles are much closer to me, but since I know all the broken ones so far, I decided to go back a bit in time, setting my foot on a completely new terra incognita. Speaking of which, there was nothing else to choose than the legendary Amiga (unfortunately via WinUAE, but the matter is not strictly related to the emulator, so I write in the programs section).

So my first steps are of course the basics, such as the file systems used and the possible (as it turned out) partition table. I have already figured out that OFS is a floppy relic that has been replaced by FFS. Both are official, stable and ... very limited (as I read, max 8GiB medium, max 4GiB partition, max 2GiB file size - although the last one is unlikely to matter;]). I read that alternative file systems are SFS and PFS. Can you tell me how popular both of these systems are, how many people are dropping FFS in their favor, how stable they are, and what problems may I encounter with keeping my data there? Is it even worth using them? I am currently playing with an emulator specifically configured as Amiga 1200 (CPU 68020, 8MiB RAM + 256KiB Z2 Fast; BTW: is that a good config at all?) So I can just use the space allocated from the host filesystem instead of the virtual HDD, but I would like to create an environment that in the future I could transfer to real equipment, such as a CF / SD card. Games interest me on average, more the environment and application software (I want to go back in time;]).

The other side of the coin is that I also got involved in helping (QA) with the implementation of Amiga media because I would like to have a tool that will provide me with access to the data of a real media or its image, and also enable data recovery if the Amiga software fails on this matter (from Windows or Linux via Wine). The author of IsoBuster, because this is the application we are talking about, is not convinced whether it makes sense to spend time adding support for unofficial file systems, especially since there are supposedly several variants (?) And SFS and PFS, incompatible (?) With each other. Could some Amiga veteran confirm / deny this information? It seems to me that it is worth it and that in the era of vias / controllers for flash cards, hardly anyone uses FFS, etc., invisibility miracles (because the cards are cheap and capacious).
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TerraNova
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SFS and PFS

Post by TerraNova »


I also don't know if I have prepared SFS well (I haven't started PFS yet). Using readme, I did it like this:

1. I installed Wokrbench 3.1 in the directory (because it's easier), which in WinUAE I connect as "DH0:" and from which I boot the system (not to the disk image, but to the folder).
2. I unpacked HDToolbox from the installation floppy and put it in the same place as it was on the "Installation Workbench" (because I noticed that after installation, HDToolbox is not in the system; is it supposed to be?).
3. As "DH1:" I connected the empty * .hdf (that is, at this stage, the file is filled with all zeros).
4. I downloaded it and unpacked it with 7-Zip to the system directory (in the tutorials people fan with LHA on the Workbench side, but it probably doesn't matter in my case?).
5. I fired up the virtual trash;) and from the CLI level I started "DH0: HDTools / HDToolBox uaehf.device" (because without it HDF was invisible if I didn't change the mode to SCSI).
6. I read HDF and its parameters, partitioned (God, how I hate CHS, there is no HDD manager what works on LBA? Really people used to be so tired with the calculator?: P)
7. I clicked the "Add / Update" button and then "Add New Filesystem".
8. I pointed to "DH0: apps / SmartFileSystem / AmigaOS3.x / L / SmartFileSystem"
9. I chose DosType: 0x53465300, Version: 1, Revision: 277.
10. In the partition parameters, that is "SFS \ 00" (this is not SFS3?) I entered Mask: 0x7ffffffe (is this the file system identifier?), MaxTransfer: 0x1fe00 (is this the maximum write speed on the target medium? If so then in what is expressed?).
11. I set the buffer to 100 because this is what the guides say, but I do not understand what it is for and what the buffer is for and what it is used for.
12. I validated the changes and reset the virtual Amiga.
13. I went to CLI and typed "CD DH0: / apps / SmartFileSystem". To format, in my case, the third experimental partition, I typed: "SFSformat drive TEST-C: name sfs_test casesensitive"
14. After all, I moved some data over there, so theoretically it works.


Thank you in advance for your time on the wall of the text and I am counting on your help.
I'm settling new lands
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NamelessOne
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SFS and PFS

Post by NamelessOne »


installation of games and demos with WHDLOAD you can change Everything starts from the emulator I just took pictures for a 16GB card and transferred to CF to a real Amiga
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Doggeboy0A
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SFS and PFS

Post by Doggeboy0A »


Using prefabs, I won't understand how it all works, and I won't be able to fix any problems I encounter. I am not one of those people who want to "click and forget" once, so I prefer to knit everything from scratch. ;)

Also, my main questions revolve around SFS and PFS (how many people use them, or is it just exotic and most prefer to stay on FFS?), Not how to configure this or that.
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MovieDirector@
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SFS and PFS

Post by MovieDirector@ »


Or you can use a directory on the disk as a partition and ignore the file system entirely. The downside is that there will be no comments or Amiga flags. Apart from a few exceptions, it does not prevent the use of Amiga programs and games.
I'm gonna direct a movie someday...
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Valdor
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SFS and PFS

Post by Valdor »


about the one you plan to buy or use FFS should do. On the other hand, PFS and SFS (the one most) are used in "new Amiga" or rather "Amiga" systems. It is true that there are newer versions, but this is probably partly the answer to your question.
For your part, if you have a Mac with a PowerPC processor somewhere at your fingertips, I recommend you play with MorphOS.
As for filesystems, however, my A1200 has disks with FFS-formatted partitions.
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Kilord
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SFS and PFS

Post by Kilord »


I have been using PFS ever since I first encountered it, back in the 90's. Then I formatted all disks only with PFS. He never let me down, unlike the FFS, which constantly lost validation and needed repairs, was slow like a dog, etc.

People fell on PFS, yes, I heard it - but somehow mainly those who used PFS "for a test" of the "one partition for now, and then you will see". I did the whole disk with it from the beginning, getting rid of FFS once and for all.

The FPS was an advantage on the classic Amiga, I don't know how now. For example, it didn't slow down when a lot of files were thrown into directory "c". And it handled large partitions like FastAta. I remember that on the FFS the Mac emulator (ShapeShifter) fired for about 50 seconds, while on the PFS - about 15 seconds. The difference was colossal.

After years without any repair (PFS can actually repair itself in some strange cases) I was able to read the disk without any problems on a PC under WinUAE and lose all its contents.

The FFS is like the Fast City Railroad (SKM) - slow, annoying, tight, but with a cheerful name to suggest it is fast.
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Hover
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SFS and PFS

Post by Hover »


In a word, you want to do some statistic on how many people / Amiga use SFS and PFS. I fly on PFS (pfs3-aio) - x2 (two Amigas) Stable, does not break, WB loads quickly
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Computeoguy
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SFS and PFS

Post by Computeoguy »


I recommend the PFS3-AIO. I've never used SFS, but it's definitely worth getting out of FFS.

Ad.11 These buffers are also known as the cache of a given partition. Up to a certain value, it speeds up disk operations because some information is kept in the computer's memory and does not need to be read again. Of course, it eats memory, which is important for many partitions (each partition has a separate cache, not a common one like in Linux / Windows).
I't does not compute....
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Yellohello
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SFS and PFS

Post by Yellohello »


In a word, you want to do some statistics on how many people / Amig use SFS and PFS.
I am going to PFS (pfs3-aio) - x2 (two Amigas)

FFS due to stuck conservatism and reluctance to change. It's not that bad - the biggest pains are the slow operation of file-partitions under emulators and the operation of very large numbers of small files. But since RAM is plentiful, addbuffers largely do the trick.

At a time when I was amiging on a large scale (which I am returning to after several years of "silencing") there was also a problem with the lack of partition repair tools in these newer systems and above the 4GB limit. I don't know yet if this has changed significantly.
Hello there all.
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