About MakeDrivers: ------------------ This installer script can be used to create customized RDB Lists, MountLists and DOSDrivers. Just follow the instructions and remember you can always use the help button if you don't understand what to do, if you are still having problems then feel free to contact me and I'll try to help. Is it safe to use ? It's fairly safe to use because it only creates text files with instructions for the chosen filesystem or RDB Prep program to use. It does NOT Format any of the newly created partitions, for probably the same reasons that HDToolBox also doesn't. The risk of accidentally destroying something important is just too high. You will still need to manually mount each Driver (or re-boot if you place them in DEVS:DOSDrivers) and then manually quick format each Driver when your sure the settings are correct. See, 'Using the Drivers:' for more Information. How to change the default settings. I've used 'Device = scsi.device' and 'Unit = 3'. These and other default settings can all be changed to match your system from within the Installer. By running 'SetDefaults' each type of drive can have it's own Default Preference settings. The default RDB List icon is MDrivers.cfg/def_RDBList. The default MountList icon is MDrivers.cfg/def_Mount. The default DOSDriver icon 'MDrivers.cfg/def_DOSDriver' can also be changed, a small selection of alternative icons are available in the 'Storage/DriverIcons' drawer. The 'MDrivers.cfg' drawer can also be moved to 'ENV:' or 'ENVARC:'. These will then take priority over any other MDrivers.cfg settings. Rigid Disk Block (RDB) List Creator option. You can now have RDB mountable and bootable multi-partitioned DVD-RAM discs by using this option with a prep program that supports RDB Lists. If you selected the RDB List creator option, space will be reserved at the beginning of the disc to allow for RDB storage. This space is only taken from the first partition and therefore should only corrupt that partition. When a MountList or DOSDrivers are made at the same time as a RDB List, those drivers will also be adjusted so they still remain fully compatible with any of the RDB partitions. This means that on the same disc, manually mounted partitions can also exist with automatically mounted and bootable partitions. See, 'Setting up the DVD-RAM disc:' for more Information. Why have a 4.2 GB limit option ? This is to allow older filesystem like OS 3.1 FFS to still be used with discs that are larger than the old 4.2 GB limit. The disc is still partitioned in the same way, but the size of a partition crossing this limit will now be set to just below it. Only a partition affected by this limit should be corrupted if either this option is applied or at some later date removed. *New* What is a 'SectorCache' Sector Size ? Some filesystems like PFS3 cannot handle larger sector sizes which are used on some modern device like DVD-RAM, and unlike some MO drives, DVD-RAM drives cannot emulate a lower sector sizes, so will just generate an error. You cannot normally set a lower sector size or use a filesystem that needs a lower sector size than the device will allow. However, using the 'Extras/SectorCache' patch before mounting the driver allows smaller sectors to be software emulated, even on a large sector device. Selecting a sector size which has this message states you are going to use the SectorCache patch to remove the normal sector size hardware restrictions of that device. Note, the real device sector size is always shown as the default. See, 'About SectorCache:' for more Information. Which Installer programs are compatible ? This script should work with any Installer version, but I can't really fully test every one, So, if it fails with yours, you could try upgrading it or contact me stating which Installer version you are using. I will then try to make sure it works with that Installer in a future release. It has been tested with the following installers and adapted to work with all types. * Installer 1.24 (1.9.92) * Installer_2 2.17 (13.2.93) OS 3.1 These do work, but you have *Ignore* any options without text ! * Installer 44.10 (01/10/1999) OS 3.5 No problems with this. It should also apply to any version above 42.6. * InstallerNG 1.4 (Nov 10 1999) (44.10) With this I did get Enforcer Hits, which could cause crashes, even though this should never happen with any type of script. I have with the help of the author (Jens Troeger) found a way to fix this problem by changing my script. This problem should however be corrected in future versions. * InstallerNG 1.5 (Sep 29 2000) (44.10) I've found no major problems with this version. Don't install the MUI option 'installergui.library' version 40.1 (25/07/2000). Using the Drivers: ------------------ Using DOSDrivers (OS 2.1 and above) ... You start the device by double clicking the icon or if it's placed in Devs:DOSDrivers drawer then just by re-booting. The device name is the same as DOSDriver filename. Using a Mount List (OS below 2.1) ... To mount this type of device, from CLI Shell type, 'Mount From ' For example, 'mount dvd0: from devs:dvd-mountlist' It can also be mounted by adding the command to your s:user-startup or s:startup-sequence and then re-booting. Using a RDB (Rigid Disk Block) List ... This is the same type of list as OS 3.5+ HDToolBox and RDPrepX creates, but these programs cannot currently write to DVD-RAM unless you use SectorCache with DType set to 0. So, I've included something that can, See 'About RDBList_Prep:' When you have a RDB installed on the disc, re-booting will automatically mount each discs own partitions. Each partition will also have it's own device and volume name. HDToolBox (Not HDInstTool or OS 3.5 HDToolBox) can now be used to read and change any of these standard values. It may however seem slightly odd while editing a 4.7 GB disc with a pre OS 3.5 HDToolBox, it should still work but some of the values may be shown as being negative. If a MountList or DOSDrivers was created at the same time as the RDB List, then the disc could still be formatted using these in the normal way. Even without having a RDB, the space for one is still reserved. It may also be possible (not tested), to boot this disc from a DVD-RAM compatible Amiga connected DVD-ROM drive ! Formatting the Drive. The mounted device will now need formatting to make the storage available to the filesystem. This only needs to be a 'quick' format and unless you have OS 3.5 or above, it's probably best done from the CLI Shell like this, So from CLI Shell type, 'Format Drive= Name= Quick NoIcons' For example, 'format drive dvd0: name MyName quick noicons' If you have lots of time (over an hour) and want to give the drive a good test, you could do a full format by just removing the 'quick' option. Note, this will also work with SFS, but SFS has SFSFormat which has more setting and so would be better to use with a SFS driver. How to test the drive ? It would also be a good idea after you've first copied a large number of files to the drive, to check for any corruption. Aminet/biz/cloan/DirDiff.lha is simple to use and has a nice GUI. Use it without the 'Quick' option and unless the data is cloned, it would probably be best to disable checking of 'Dates' and 'Icons'. This will show any errors in the copied data that where introduced by an unstable system, NO errors are acceptable ! Or you could use a CLI program called cmp V1.7 by ALeX Kazik which is also available on Aminet to do this, So from CLI Shell type, 'Cmp All CheckD Show=~q' For example, 'cmp dh1:MyFiles dvd0:MyFiles all checkd show=~q' What if the test fails ? If you do have transfer problems, try using some small safe values for MaxTransfer (64 KB - 2 Bytes) and Mask (CHIP Memory), these should work for every device. (see also, 'About the Drivers'). If this does not help, then it would appear to be a problem with your hardware, connections or SCSI termination.