I have a SAM 460 and I thought I was going to try the JXFS file system. That's why I backed up a partition with the size 132 GB and changed it's file system to JXFS. The problem is that I get file system related error messages when I try to restore the backup data to the JXFS partition and the restore stops. I figured it was the fast format that I used which didn't really cut it so I started a normal format. It took about five minutes to reach 1%. That would mean it would take over 8 hours to format the entire partition. Is this really the way it should be? I could try to let it run for 8 hours but with the current stability of AmigaOS 4.1 (update 4) on my SAM I would be very surprised if the system would manage to run for so long time.

Is there no better way to format the partition?

Last edited by Niolator on 08-Aug-2012 at 09:04 PM.

@Niolator

Quick format should be fine. Most likely after reboot as MTB will tell you. But make sure you have a 512 blocksize as it's the only one supported.

Amother thing to be careful about. Make sure you have extra space for a backup partition with a more established filesystem like FFS2 or SFS1. Because JXFS has no recovery tools!

@Hypex

It works a lot better after I connected the hard drive to my Sil3512 controller instead of the built in Sata 2 controller. Maybe the current drivers for the built-in controller can't handle JXFS correctly? They are still considered beta after all.

I was considering switching to the Sil controller anyway as I thought that maybe the CPU load is higher when using the built-in controller. I am no expert in data transfers but one would think that an "external" controller would put some weight of the CPU, or am I wrong?

@Niolator

Quote:

It works a lot better after I connected the hard drive to my Sil3512 controller instead of the built in Sata 2 controller. Maybe the current drivers for the built-in controller can't handle JXFS correctly? They are still considered beta after all. I was considering switching to the Sil controller anyway as I thought that maybe the CPU load is higher when using the built-in controller. I am no expert in data transfers but one would think that an "external" controller would put some weight of the CPU, or am I wrong?

unfortunately the driver for the on-board SATA2 controller does not currently support DMA transfers. the end result is much higher CPU usage and slower I/O. acube is actively working on this.

make certain the transfer mode on your hard disk is set to the highest supported and interrupts are enabled for optimal performance. you can do this via the idetool command.

-- eliyahu

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@Hypex

Quote:

Make sure you have extra space for a backup partition with a more established filesystem like FFS2 or SFS1. Because JXFS has no recovery tools!

Using XJFS here since it became available. A partition with a rather high rate of reads and (re-)writes, like software developement, has not suffered once from ANY mishap ever. No need for a backup partition experienced. I think it a very reliable FS.
System used is a µ.

OldFart

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@OldFart

My work partition is JXFS. It has survived my A1XE hardware going bad twice. It has remained stable even when my SYS: partition has gone bad having been formatted with FFS2, SFS/01, and finally SFS/02. The hard drive with JXFS now resides in my SAM460ex working just as it always has. If it could be made bootable (soon I hope?), I would immediately reformat my SYS: partition to use this stable filesystem.

Last edited by PhantomInterrogative on 19-Jul-2012 at 07:25 PM.

_________________
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PCIe: Radeon HD4850 @625 MHz with 512 MB DDR3 @993 MHz
PCI: ARC1-152-C7 riser card
Riser: sil0680 card with 40 GB HD & DVDRW
OS: 4.1 Update 6

@Niolator

Always "quick format" a HD.

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Philippe 'Elwood' Ferrucci
Sam460 1.15 Ghz
AmigaOS 4 betatester
Amiga Translator Organisation

@eliyahu

Thanks for reminding me about idetool. I will check the settings later tonight (I am not at home right now).

Now another partition (with SFS00 as file system) gets a lots of strange errors, one that I haven't changed at all. I am beginning to regret messing around with file systems. Fast formatting is as useless on this partition. As I can not find any repair tool for SFS on AmigaOS 4.x my only hope seem to be a full format. Or maybe I should change it to FFS and try to fix the checksum errors from that file system?

I am just afraid that my fairly new and rather unused hard drive is faulty.

edit: Partition wizard does not seem to be a very potent tool either. Despite that I get checksum errors when I try to use the partition, which is now FFS, Partition wizard reports it as fine and does not try to repair it.

Last edited by Niolator on 19-Jul-2012 at 10:48 PM.
Last edited by Niolator on 19-Jul-2012 at 10:47 PM.

It is obviously as I feared. I will have to salvage what I can from the hard drive and see if I can find it's receipt. Nothing I try makes any difference at all. The hard drive is broken.

@Niolator

As Elwood said, you should NEVER try to full format an HD. The full format choice should be removed altogether, IMO. It is only useful on floppies.

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Hyperion Support Forum: http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz/index.php

@tonyw

I agree, there is already a bug report for that #3381.

Last edited by elwood on 20-Jul-2012 at 11:30 AM.

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Philippe 'Elwood' Ferrucci
Sam460 1.15 Ghz
AmigaOS 4 betatester
Amiga Translator Organisation

Well, I will make another attempt. Maybe the SATA-cable is sitting a little loose. I will try with another one.

I guess I won´t be the most popular guy in the computer store tomorrow as the warranty ends in three weeks. I am now working hard to retrieve as much data as possible, it was a long time ago I made a backup. At least I get to see a lots of new error messages I haven't seen before. Examples are when the OS complains about the volume trying to access blocks outside the volume or when the expected blockID is not the same as the reported.

I just can't understand how changing the file system on one partition could cause the entire drive to malfunction. I did not use any goofy setting either. I made sure to use the recommended for JXFS.

I have managed to save most of what I wanted to save. Now wish me luck at the computer store tomorrow.

@Niolator

Quote:

Maybe the current drivers for the built-in controller can't handle JXFS correctly?

Well all the driver does it should do is read and write sectors. The filesystem or JXFS uses the device driver to access the disk so to the driver it's all data.

Gone are the days where drivers like GVP cards actually looked at the data and refused anything other than FFS. Well some GVP card I've heard of doesn't work unless you boot off FFS.

Quote:

I am no expert in data transfers but one would think that an "external" controller would put some weight of the CPU, or am I wrong?

Well to the computer it's just a device that sits on the PCI bus. The internal SATA also sits on the PCI bus, just a bit closer on the board. So where it is shouldn't affect it. As mentioned, tramsfer mode would.

Quote:

As I can not find any repair tool for SFS on AmigaOS 4.x my only hope seem to be a full format.

What do you mean? We have Partition Wizard and SFSTools

http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=driver/filesystem/sfs.lha

or

http://strohmayer.org/

Quote:

Or maybe I should change it to FFS and try to fix the checksum errors from that file system?

Noooo! Do you mean changing it from SFS to FFS in order fix it? They are completly different filesystems if I know what you are thinking. You'll destroy all the files!

Quote:

Despite that I get checksum errors when I try to use the partition, which is now FFS,

If you simply chamged the DOS type (SFS to SFS) no wonder why!

Change it back and use one of the above tools

I'd also try the smartctl tool that's included with OS4 as a CLI command. For example to check the first device on a Sil3512 controller:

smartctl -a sii3512ide.device:0

However, by now you have taken the drive back, so it's about as gone as using DiskSalv after a quick format I take it?

Last edited by Hypex on 29-Jul-2012 at 03:57 PM.

@Hypex

Quote:

Quote: Or maybe I should change it to FFS and try to fix the checksum errors from that file system? Noooo! Do you mean changing it from SFS to FFS in order fix it? They are completly different filesystems if I know what you are thinking. You'll destroy all the files!

Of course I understand that. That is why I backed up all the files on that partition before I tried it (the ones not affected by checksum errors that is).

Quote:

Quote: Despite that I get checksum errors when I try to use the partition, which is now FFS, If you simply chamged the DOS type (SFS to SFS) no wonder why! Change it back and use one of the above tools

I changed it to FFS in Media toolbox and formatted it. There was still a lots of checksum errors.

Thanks for the tips though, I will make another attempt at reviving the drive tomorrow as the warranty did not cover file system related errors. The employees in the computer store believed if they sent it to Seagate (the manufacturer) they would most likely just format it in NTFS-format and demand payment for it as I could have done it myself.

I will try the tools you refer to. The reason I didn't try Partition wizard was that I didn't think it works on SFS. I also thought that SFSTools only works on MorphOS (it was not present in the archive I found on os4depot).

I still think it is very strange that after I changed the file system on one partition, in addition to problems with the partition I changed, I suddenly got a lots of errors on another partition that I didn't touch.

@Niolator

It might be worth trying that - put it in a PC, format it with NTFS and stress test it. It might also be useful to use some sort of analysis tool to check the SMART status, this can give you an indication of errors as it keps count of read and write errors which would otherwise be hidden from the user. A Linux live CD has such tools on it which you could use without having to install Linux itself.

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@Daedalus

Quote:

some sort of analysis tool to check the SMART status

http://www.os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=utility/misc/devinfos.lha

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I have now replaced the drive but I must be doing something seriously wrong. The new drive, which worked just fine in my PC, also gets checksum errors on the JXFS and SFS partitions (I only have three partitions including the system partition). I can not understand what I am doing wrong. I have used the settings I have found others recommending on the Internet (see below). I am beginning to suspect that there is something wrong with my Sil 3512-controller.

My settings (on both JXFS and SFS/00):

Blocksize: 512
Buffers: 1000
Maxtransfer:7FFFFFFF
Mask:FEEEEEEE

I have also tried with Maxtransfer 1FE0 but it makes no difference when it comes to the checksum errors. My system partition with FFS2 seems to work fine.

ps. The original hard drive works fine in my PC.