My computer won't let me rename my hard disk, how come?
Turn off 'sharing' in the File Sharing Control Panel.
Can I setup a RAID drive on my emulated Mac?
In theory, yes, so long as you have the correct hardware and software. It will have to be a software based RAID, because there are no dedicated RAID controllers for Amigas, and the Mac RAID software would not be able to recognise the controller anyway. Recommended specifications:
* A 68040/060 CPU - it will not work on a slow computer.
* A SCSI 2, or faster controller.
* Two or more identical hard disks (the same manufacturer and capacity, ideally).
* The software; there are only a few commercial packages available at the moment (there aren't any shareware RAID programs as far as I know). I'll list some of the good ones;
- RAID Toolkit, from FWB - see their web site.
- Charismac RAID, from Charismac - see their web site.
- Remus, from Adaptec - see their web site.
Will I be able to mount/format other external hard disks in Mac emulation?
Yes, in theory (haven't done this myself), if they are connected to the SCSI bus. You should be able to format it straight from the Mac side, and without formatting it on the Amiga side. However you might need 3rd party SCSI hard disk formatting software, if the System software doesn't come up with message asking you whether you want to initialise it. Also note that Apple's formatting utility Apple HD SC Setup will only accept Apple branded hard disks, so don't bother using it. However you might have better luck with Drive Setup which recognises quite a few hard disks, a copy of it can be downloaded off Apple's Tech Library web site.
Remember that ShapeShifter and Fusion only needs the setup info for the bootup partition, and not necessarily for each and every device you have for your Mac, such as Zip drives, scanners etc.
Is it possible to repartition a volume without having to re-initialise it again?
No it is not possible. You have to reformat (high-level format = re-initialise) the hard disk again to setup the hard disk parameters properly, otherwise you will run the risk of trashing the entire contents of the hard disk, and you can forget about recovering any data.
If this affects the startup volume, then you'll have to repartition it on the Amiga side first, then format it again on the Mac.
What if I accidentally initialised my hard disk.. how can I retrieve my files?
1) If you installed Norton Utilities' Filesaver and set it up to actively scan your drives regularly, then you could use Norton's Volume Recover utility to restore the Directory structure back to how it was the last time Filesaver saved the Master Directory.
2) If however, the first option is not going to work for you, try using Norton's Unerase program, to undelete files individually, or all the ones it finds. Note: if your hard disk contains a lot of fragmented files, it will not be able to retrieve and merge the other fragments as it does not know where they are. Tech Tool Pro has a undelete feature as well, but with less features.
3) Try this rather good program, called Data Rescue, for more information go to; www.wildbits.com
4) Restore from your last backup. Only do this if you are not bothered about losing any new files, as you are highly unlikely to recover any of those files, as they will now be overwritten.
5) You could go to a professional data recovery service, beware, they can be quite expensive - best if you get a quote off them first. Try these companies for starters:
* Advanced Data Solutions LLC (USA), www.adv-data.com.
* Data Quest International (UK), Tel/fax: (+44) 1705 671330, email: dataq@globalnet.co.uk.
* DNA Computer Services Ltd (UK), Tel: 0831 295099 & 0385 261258.
* Or look inside your Mac magazine for repair shops.
How big can a Mac disk be?
HFS volumes can go up to 9gig (safely), however I would recommend an upper limit of 4gig in HFS, otherwise it'll start to waste a lot of disk space due to massive block sizes, and because Amigas cannot access HD's bigger than this, without FFS patches. HFS+ can go up to 2 terrabytes (2000 gigabytes), and uses a standard 4k block size on all HDs/partitions above 1gigabyte.
However, it all depends on your Amiga setup, and what controllers (SCSI or IDE) you are using for the boot partition(s) and what filing system patches you have installed which can recognise sizes above 4gig. You may have to update FFS to FFS TD64 from Aminet, to use 4gig+ IDE hard disks, or another filing system altogether, such as Professional Filing System v2-3 (Great Effects Development, www.greed.nl), which can handle very large hard disks.
How can I format a PC formatted Zip disk, as a Mac disk?
As you may have noticed, you cannot format a PC Zip disk as Mac HFS disk via the Erase Disk feature, in the Finder's Special menu, if the PC Exchange Control Panel is activated. It will only reformat it as a PC disk again.
You can either switch off the aforementioned Control Panel and then use the Finder's Erase Disk or, use a hard disk formatting utility such as Iomega's Zip Tools, which can be downloaded from the Iomega's web site; www.iomega.com. The main Zip utility is called Tools and lets you set certain formatting parameters as well as update the current disk driver (Rigid Disk Block).
How can I tell if this volume is formatted as a HFS+ disk?
For MacOS 8.1 users...
Highlight the disk's icon and press Amiga+i for 'Get Info'. Near the top of the panel is a subject called Format, it'll list the disk's format as; Mac OS Standard (HFS), or Mac OS Extended (HFS+). You may not see much difference in block size, for hard disks below 250mb.
For MacOS 7.x/8.0 users...
A HFS+ disk used on any system below 8.1 will only see a text file on the disk, with no other icons displayed, the Simpletext doc will be named "Where have all my files gone". It'll tell you that this disk is an HFS+ disk, and you cannot access any files accept in OS8.1. However you will be able to see and use a HFS+ volume connected to a Macintosh FileServer.
The hard disk icon doesn't appear on the desktop, what happened?
Either the hard disk has not been formatted or an error has developed on the HD.
1) The Desktop File has become corrupted. To rebuild the Desktop, you need to press and hold any Amiga+Alt keys, just before the Finder loads up.
2) The Master Directory Block is damaged - run a repair program, to fix the directory structure.
3) The hard disk driver is not functioning properly. You may have to repair the disk or even re-initialise it (ShapeShifter uses it's own driver info).
4) There is a poor power/SCSI connection to the hard disk, check all cables are firmly in place (even internal drives).
General SCSI Problems
SCSI can cause a lot of problems, especially with Macintosh emulation. It mainly causes; a freeze, the watch spins forever, and inevitably causes data/directory corruption.
To avoid any unnecessary problems, check through this list first, then use your disk repair utility;
1) Make absolutely sure the SCSI bus is terminated on powered up devices only.
2) You can safely use some devices even though some have been switched off, and it'll still be usable - although it isn't recommended.
3) All SCSI devices need to be switched on before the computer is powered up. Otherwise the controller will not see these peripherals.
4) Make sure all SCSI device IDs have their own unique numbers. No more than one device can have the same ID number, otherwise you'll have all manner of problems.
5) Do not use very long SCSI cables. SCSI can only have a maximum chain length of about 10m or so (this is not accurate, only a rough guide).
My Mac displays a message saying it wants to initialise the disk I've just inserted, what can I do to get it to recognise the disk properly?
Again you need the services of your favourite disk repair program to recover the disk and its data, assuming of course, that it has already been formatted for the Mac.
If your utility was not able to repair the disk, you'll have to copy the files off the disk, then reformat it again.
If it is a PC disk (PC Exchange Control Panel should be active), then there's nothing you can do to repair the disk, only a PC can fix a PC formatted disk.
Note: many Macintosh disk repair programs cannot repair PC disks. However, if you have a PC emulator, you can repair the disk with the appropriate PC program.
How come I get random system errors and freezes when using a SCSI device?
These are in no particular order, although I'd recommend you check nos.1, 2, 3, 6 and 10 first.
1) Check for viruses, from a clean write protected anti-virus floppy disk.
2) Check your SCSI setup for proper termination. This means that your entire set of devices, no matter how many there are, should be terminated at each end of the bus. One for the internal chain of devices (usually a CD drive or hard disk), and one for the external chain. Both must be terminated at the very end of the chain.
If your Amiga crashed while using a device, it can damage the Finder and/or the System file, this may cause it to boot up no further than the happy Mac screen. See the section called Crashing Problems, for boot-up crashes, to remedy to the problem.
3) Check all SCSI IDs have a different ID number. If any two or more have the same ID, it will either not be recognised by the controller, or it will cause a system freeze, depending on which devices are effected.
4) Check all SCSI cables are connected properly. Switch off all peripherals first. It could be that a cable is faulty, as in, the wire inside is broken. The only way to track this down is to use a working device as a benchmark, and then check all cables, by attaching them one at a time to it, and see what happens.
5) A removable hard disk, eg. optical, Zip, may have serious errors in it's directory, use the disk repair program.
6) It could be a Extension conflict. You'll have to disable a few at a time, to find out which one is causing the problem. You may have to reinstall the Extension/Control Panel again, if it worked fine before this problem occurred.
8) Rebuild the Desktop file on all regularly used HDs/removable disks.
9) Update the drivers on all regularly used disks, except for Finder formatted hard disks - you'll have to re-initialise it, to up-date it. It can have a drastic effect on the Mac's performance, if it is damaged. Do this via the utility that formatted the disk. All it is doing is updating the Rigid Disk Block with the correct information.
10) Check the hard disk with your disk repair program, the directory structure may be damaged.
When I copy files across to other disks, they become corrupted, what can I do?
This can be caused by one of two things; bad blocks or the hard disk's maximum transfer is set too high, a limit of 0X1FE00 = 128k is a normal setting. Use HDToolBox (Amiga) to key in a new value (activate the advanced options button). You won't need to reformat the drive.
It could also be caused by faulty SCSI cables (internal or external), or the Mac's directory structure is damaged - run your repair program on the disk, just to make sure. And while you're at it, rebuild the Desktop(s) of your Mac hard disks, and scan your disks for viruses as well, this may have caused some system damage.