Recommended file system(s) for my AmigaOne systems

My X1000 machines have SFS (or SFS/2?) for file systems on the hard drives, and one of those machines has an SSD for the main drive. These have been working fine, but I do remember when, several years ago, I lost the boot partition on an SFS hard drive volume without any warning. I have been more careful about having current backups since then.

My new X5000 brings with it some more choices. I still have SFS available to me in whatever version is now distributed with Enhancer, as well as the public release of NGFS. I keep hearing that there are newer versions of NGFS that are perhaps better in some way being used by beta testers, but I only have what has been released to end users.

So, what file system is best for my machines from my choices? When should SFS vs. SFS/2 be used? Or should the public release of NGFS be preferred? Should I change X1000 volumes to NGFS as released for X5000?

It would be nice to see an OS update with some later file system version released. A reliable, robust and performant file system seems very important.

@mbrantley
The main differences between SFS\0 and SFS\2 are
SFS\0:
- Max. file size is 4 GB - 2 bytes.
- Max. partition size is 128 GB.
- Recovery tools are available: SFSSalv (AmigaOS 3.x/m68k, should work on AmigaOS 4.x as well, included in the Aminet SFS 1.279 archive) and PartitionWizard (Enhancer Software).
SFS\2:
- Max. file size several TB.
- Max. partition size should be several EB, but apparently there is a bug somewhere, more than 1 or 2 TB doesn't work. I never had such large drives in any of my Amiga systems and couldn't test it myself.
- No recovery tools available.

When using Smart File System you should use SFS\0 for all partitions, except for a single partition using SFS\2 for files larger than 4 GB like DVD image files, HDF files for E-UAE, large videos, etc., if you need that.

NGFS:
The version included in X5000 (and probably A1222) releases of AmigaOS 4.1 is very old, has bugs and shouldn't be used any longer according to it's author.
But users who got a system with this old NGFS included can get an update to the current version of NGFS directly from it's author.

If you have a current version of NGFS (54.105 or newer) you should use that and don't use SFS any more.
As long as you only have an old NGFS from 2016 or earlier it may be better to use SFS instead.

@joerg

When you mention author to get the current version, are you meaning Hyperion?

I purchased my X5K back in 2016 and have done all the updates to date, but unsure what version I used to last partition my drive. I know I did a reinstall of all couple years ago but may have been the 2016 version is my guess.

I need to look but who do we reach out to to get the current NTFS if we are current X5K and Amiga OS 4.1 licensed owners?

TJ

@Jörg

Hi Jörg,

I saw you were talking about PartitionWizard. Does it work for you?

Because it doesn't work for me because of the kernel in Update 2. If I install the kernel from the AmigaOS 4.1 installation CD, it works.

Or did I miss something?

@AmigaSociety

Tony Wyatt is the author, and last login was Jan last year.

@skynet

No, you did not miss something. The "original" PartitionWizard does not work with Update 2. Neither does the PartitionWizard included in Enhancer Software v2.2. I don't know if there is working beta version of PartitionWizard, but the version I got with Enhancer Software definately does not work.

---
redfox

Thanks, everyone!

@mbrantley
Go to the link below and p.m. Tony for the latest version of NGFS. I mailed him last week and got another new update of NGFS.

https://forum.hyperion-entertainment.c ... wtopic.php?p=56304#p56304

Is there a way to tell what version of NGFS actually was done on an old drive or no?

TJ

@AtariSociety ;)

Yeah you can check in Sys:System/MediaToolbox, NGF\0 is the old X5000 release ISO version, NGF\01 is the new version direct from Tony Wyatt.

Edit: Or just type "info" in shell/cli and look to the right and you will see
DOS Type NGF\0 or NGF\01.

Just got home and had a look. Seems I have NGFileSystem 54.55.

@mbrantley

The latest NGFS is 54.114 so read above or check your P.M.s

Hi khayoz,

I'd like to contact Tony, but the only problem is that when I click on his username, I end up on the Hyperion forum, and I can't register. I've been trying for a while, but without success.

Is there another way to contact Tony?

They're funny at Hyperion. I've been wanting to register on the forum for a year now, but every time I get this message:

The specified username is currently inactive. If you have problems activating your account, please contact a board administrator.

Okay, but how do you even contact the administrator when there's no contact information?

@skynet
As I understand you got a X5000 and then you should have a
hyperion-entertainment.com account right?

Use the same username/password in the forum.
Or just log in to Hyperion and then click the forum tab
and then go to the X5000 forum and scroll down to the NGFS thread.

No, even with my username for downloads, it doesn't work.

And when there's a way to contact the administrator, I get this message: The board administrator contact page has been disabled.

@skynet
Check your P.M.

@khayoz

Quote:No, the login in the forum is not the same as the login on the main Hyperion site (unless of course you have explicitly set them up with the same user/pass yourself).

The main site's login is however the same as the one you use in AmiUpdate, maybe that's what you misunderstood. But the forum one is independent.

Best regards,

Niels

@nbache

Yeah it's been a long time, registered in 2004 and if I remember correclty
Hyperion changed the forum to another engine sometime in 201X?
Maybe have something to do with that I guess.

But is the forum closed for new users?