Re: IIgs files from PC

[CUTblakeney@home.com (Jeff Blakeney)]

On 28 Feb 2000 04:41:12 GMT, supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:

>I copy the files individually to a Zip drive.  I verify before and
>after the Finder 'select all' file copy.  No problems so far.

Did you mean to say verify or did you mean validate?  All verify does
is to check to see if each block of the volume selected is readable.
It doesn't check for bad directory entries, messed up key blocks,
damaged volume bit map or whatever.

Even if you do mean validate, that still can't guarantee that there
hasn't been any file corruption as it just makes sure it can read all
the blocks for each file.  That's why you get a dialog box when it is
done that says "The file structure of "volume" seems to be OK."

Both these checks are basically to find any bad blocks on a disk and
to let you know what file is affected by any bad blocks.  The only way
to be sure your data on an HFS volume is okay is to check each file
individually (which is very time consuming) or use a Mac's volume
utilities to check and repair the drive (provided the Mac can see the
partition).

>Why was there file damage?  Could it be the ProDOS FST?
>
>Or is it more likely that a program or a power glitch caused
>data corruption?  If so, could such glitches not also cause
>HFS problems?

It could be any of the above or other problems and yes those types of
problems can affect HFS volumes as well.

However, ProDOS has a much better track record than HFS which is why
people are not as quick to blame the ProDOS FST when something goes
wrong.  HFS has a bad track record and for good reason.

>There is one known bug in the HFS FST.  The rest is pure
>speculation.

How do you know there is only one known bug in the HFS FST?  Wouldn't
it be more accurate for you to say there is only one bug that YOU know
about?  I've heard of at least one other nasty bug that hasn't been
entirely figured out yet but it is still a bug that is known to exist.
Names like Tony Diaz, Nathan Mates, Jawaid Bazyar and Dave Lyons come
to mind as people who have said that the HFS FST still has bugs in it
but I'm not 100% sure it was them.

>If you or I start running around and claim that there are
>"known bugs" in the ProDOS FST, just watch how many
>folks will bring up horror stories.  That's because any kind
>of file system will sometimes have corruption of data.

That's because it is very hard to get a piece of code to be 100% bug
free.  There could well be one or more bugs in the ProDOS FST but if
there are, they are extremely difficult to trigger and/or don't result
in file loss.

>This is why I say it is important to keep a count of those
>who have good experiences with the HFS FST rather than
>just discounting those experiences as "luck" or else you
>will be propagating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So far I've heard of two people who claim to have had no problems with
HFS volumes while using the patched HFS FST so far.  I've also heard
about at least that many people who have had problems with HFS volumes
whiles using the patched HFS FST as well.

>The only known bug of the HFS FST can be patch.  The
>rest is pure speculation.
>
>I am not saying for sure there are no more bugs, but just
>take HFS FST hysteria with a grain of salt.

After all those assurances that the HFS FST only has one fixable bug,
you start back-pedalling.  :-)

All I'm saying is that I don't suggest to people to make regular use
of an HFS volume because there is a lot of potential for data loss.

Besides, most people really have no need of HFS.  I currently have a
1.2 GB hard drive on my IIgs and I have it partitioned as 9 32MB
ProDOS partitions and 1 880MB HFS partition.  All I've done with the
HFS partition so far is to copy a bunch of archives off of floppies
onto it so that I can sort through them.  I have a ton of stuff
installed on the ProDOS partitions and still have tons of room on them
for more.  That's why I'm thinking of moving the 1.2 GB drive to my
Mac and accessing it through AppleTalk when I want it (and it will
have HFS file utilities installed on it) and putting a 540 MB drive on
my IIgs as it is still far more than I need.  Besides, I also have an
EZ135 drive, a Jaz drive and may soon be getting a Magneto-Optical
drive that I can use when I want them on my IIgs as well.

Also, don't forget that accessing HFS volumes on a IIgs is still
slower (maybe not by a lot but still slower) than accessing ProDOS
volumes on the IIgs and that you need to have at least one ProDOS
partition to boot from anyways.

The only real reason I keep the HFS FST active is because it is nice
to have if you are given an HFS formatted disk.

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