Writing/formatting Amiga disks

HxC Floppy Emulator on Amiga support
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siliconscientist
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2018 2:08 pm

Writing/formatting Amiga disks

Post by siliconscientist »

Hi Jeff!

It's me again, I have another problem... I've tried to copy disk images from 100% error free hfe files (converted from adf) to other hfe files (empty adf files) on a Kikstart 1.2/1.3 Amiga 500 and I get loads of random errors on the copies. The same happens when I try to format a disk with Workbench or XCopy or even when I try to write a simple file to an hfe image from the Workbench. Sometimes the Amiga even crashes during the write.
I've tried it again on exactly the same Amiga with exactly the same disk images, but this time with Kikstart 3.1 and XCopy TNG - and here it seems to work! I have already read on the forum that you've suggested to use XCopy TNG, this program doesn't work with Kikstart 1.2/1.3, so I've tried it with 3.1. Formatting disks also seems to work from the Workbench itself under Kikstart 3.1. On disk copying with XCopy TNG I only get error-free copies if I use the verify function as you've suggested.

This seems really strange to me - are there general speed or sync issues between the Amiga and the HxC? Or maybe bugs in the older Kikstart systems? Can I do something (maybe use a faster SD card) to fix this issue or is there maybe an update in the making?
And, most importantly, does it make sense at all at the moment to save anything to hfe files on the Amiga? I'm just thinking about save games, high score lists etc - it would be bad if the game disk images get corrupted when the Amiga tries to write something on them...

Thanks and all the best,
Stefan

P.S. My configuration: HxC Rev C (firmware v1.8.2.40), 2 Amiga 500 (one with KS1.2, one with KS1.3) and an ACA500 for KS3.1

Jeff
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Re: Writing/formatting Amiga disks

Post by Jeff »

It appears that you have a quite slow sdcard if you got error even with a simple file write. Which model are you using ?

About the XCopy TNG, i don't remember that it need KS > 1.3. I will check this.

siliconscientist
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2018 2:08 pm

Re: Writing/formatting Amiga disks

Post by siliconscientist »

Hi Jeff!

I'm using a Samsung MB-SS08D. It's an 8 GB SDHC card with speed class 6. I've never had any problems with this card model except for the write problem in Amiga Kickstart 1.2/1.3. In the Kickstart 3.1 everything works fine. I'm using the same cards in the Emulator II and Oberheim DPX-1 - no problems here.

Jeff
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Re: Writing/formatting Amiga disks

Post by Jeff »

Class 6. Definitively too slow for this usage case ;)

siliconscientist
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Re: Writing/formatting Amiga disks

Post by siliconscientist »

Alright, I'll try a faster card then... But it's really strange that the card is only too slow if I use it in the slower OS (1.2/1.3) and it works with no problem in the faster OS 3.1 ... difficult to understand, really... ;)

Jeff
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Re: Writing/formatting Amiga disks

Post by Jeff »

siliconscientist wrote:
Sat Dec 28, 2019 2:07 am
Alright, I'll try a faster card then... But it's really strange that the card is only too slow if I use it in the slower OS (1.2/1.3) and it works with no problem in the faster OS 3.1 ... difficult to understand, really... ;)
there is nothing hard to understand :

1.2/1.3 just don't do a verify and try to write the others side right after the previous write. If the emulator write buffer is not flushed at this moment the new write datas are lost.
3.1 do a verify and wait to see the track data before writing a new track. This let the time to the emulator to write the data to the sdcard.

siliconscientist
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2018 2:08 pm

Re: Writing/formatting Amiga disks

Post by siliconscientist »

Ah, now I understand! Thanks a lot for the explanation! :D

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