Re: Partitioning 730MB HD?

[tribby@cup.hp.com (Dave Tribby)]

Mitchell Spector (spector@vax2.concordia.ca) wrote:
> 	It's a 730 megabyte SCSI drive that will be connected up to
> a RamFAST SCSI card inside my Apple IIgs. If I'm not mistaken, the
> RamFAST allows a maximum of 12 partitions (including other devices)
> which doesn't give me much breathing room really. Currently on my
> system are two Apple 3.5 drive, an Apple 5.25 and an active /RAM5.
> To free up some more devices, I plan to remove my second 3.5 drive
> and disable my 5.25 through the control panel. If I must, I'll also
> consider disabling my RAM Disk, but only as a very last resort. With
> that said, here is my plan:
> 	Eight (8) 32MB ProDOS partitions = 256 megs
>         Two (2) 237MB HFS partitions   = 474 megs (the remainder) 
>                                         ----------
>                                          730 megs (in 10 partitions)

Any reason you're splitting the HFS partition in two? You could pick up
an additional ProDOS partition by using a single HFS.

I don't know about the limit of 12 for all devices; that might be only
for ProDOS 8, not GSOS. I'd suggest trying more partitions, up to the
maximum allowed by the RamFAST, and seeing if they interfere with other
devices. If they do, you can always unmount partitions and keep them
hidden off-line with the RamFAST utility program.

I've heard that the RamFAST doesn't create maximum size ProDOS
partitions exactly correctly. Supposedly, the disk utility Prosel(?)
will fix the directory information without disturbing any data, or
you can erase the partition from the Finder immediately after creating
the partition (before there's any data) to ensure that all of the
bits are set correctly.

> 	My second question is, how should I go about formatting? Should
> I use the built-in RF utilities or something else? Also, if the drive
> comes pre-formatted as one giant 730MB HFS volume (most likely it will) 
> should I perform a low-level or high-level format? I thought maybe a 
> high-level since it might preserve any Mac SCSI drivers that the vendor
> might install (important if I need to bring the drive over to a Mac).

If you can do a partitioning without reformatting, go for it! I don't
remember whether the RAMFast utilities force you into doing that or not.
In any case, when you repartition you will likely lose all information
on the disk. If there are files you want to keep, you should copy them
to a floppy disk...assuming the HFS partition is readable by your system
right out of the box. (If not, you might want to ask the vendor if
you can get the HFS files on a separate floppy. Unless you have the
hardware to read a 1.44 MB high-density disk, be sure to ask for an 800 KB
floppy.)

-- Dave Tribby
   tribby@cup.hp.com