Re: :( 12 Partition Limit!?!?!??? :(

[johnlb@Primenet.Com (John Bowling)]

In article <31DB7CDD.15CC@rmci.net>, Michael Warner  <Mikeal@rmci.net> wrote:
>Why can't someone redo the SCSI card for the Apple //'s in such a 
>way that it will use the fullness of some of these new drives, 720 meg, 1 
>gig, 1.5 gig, etc. And be able to go beyond the 12 partitions limit. 
>Which in it's day was great with hard drives smaller than 384 megs. 
>	Wouldn't it be nice to use 9/10's of a gig and have those filled 
>with GS/OS and ProDos files and programs. Then use that last 1/10 for Mac 
>files (HFS HST). 
>	Now I know that we have things like AutoArk, and Hardpressed, 
>(Great programs) etc, but it'd sure be nice to use the fullness of todays 
>larger drives if you have one. Or want to get one.
>	Or even better yet why not use the larger hard drives to the full 
>extent similar to the way ibm's and others do. You have the option to 
>partition if you want too. But don't have too. 
>	I don't know, just something I've been thinking about since I 
>bought a 720 mb hard drive.
>				Mike :)

There are some route around the problem.  If you have two HD interface
boards, you can use both.  They should be different boards.  2 RamFast
or 2 Apple boards will both try to use the same addresses.  I have
used an Apple HS Scsi and a RamFast at the same time, and have gotten 15
drives/partitions on line.  I have also gotten more than 12 with the Apple
board alone, but never more than 12 with the RamFast.

Part of the problem is with the OS.  Any P8 program, such as ProTerm,
cannot find the top 4 drives and no HFS drives.  I think the limit is 8
with P8.  And I suspect that GS/OS itself has a limit somewhere.

The reason large drives are not recommended is that there is limited space
for the bit map.  There is one bit for each block on the disk.  Increasing
the number of blocks requires one of two methods:  You can make the bit
map larger to allow more blocks, or you can make the blocks bigger.
Either method takes away some usable space.  In ProDOS, either version,
the bit map and the block size are both hard coded into it, and if they
were changed, the new version of ProDOS would not read disks created with
the old version.

John

--
--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--
- John Bowling          -- Did anyone notice the recent switch by the
- johnlb@primenet.com   -- southern baptists to become anti-christians?
--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--