Installing JXFS [SOLVED]

@Deniil

I suspect that there is a maximum partition size, especially for Western Digital hard drives. There is a thread over on amigaworld about this issue.

Here are my notes from some experiments on August 15, 2009 ...

August 15, 2009, I added a 160 GB partion to my Western Digital hard drive
- DH3 Volume name "Extras" ... 160 GB JXFileSystem (JXF\04)
- As per instructions from Media Toolbox, I let the machine reboot.
- DH3 showed up as unformatted.
- Quick format ok.
- Copied two videos over to DH3. Both played just fine.

Then I did a cold boot (power off/on) ...

Please insert volume
ENV:
in any drive.

Lucky thing I burned a bootable backup to CD-R before I added the new partition ...

Rebooted machine using CD-R. Renamed my new partion to a different Volume name a few times, but same message on boot from hard drive.

Rebooted machine using CD-R and deleted the new partition.

System running ok since.

---
redfox

@ChrisH

Since I am still confused by the terms FFS and FFS2, I will simply state that I have been using FastFileSystem with Long filenames (DOS\07) (Blocksize 2048) since I first installed OS4.0 pre-release about 3.5 years ago.

Currently using a Western Digital 250 GB hard drive. My previous Maxtor hard drive died with read/write errors shortly after I upgraded to AmigaOS 4.1. It was a very old drive, so I don't think that OS 4.1 killed it.

Currently, I am using FastFileSystem with Long filenames (DOS\07) for my main system partition, and JXFileSystem (JXF\04) for a partition where I store lots of miscellaneous stuff, like music, pictures, videos, pdf files, etc.

I have a 4 partitions:
SWAP approx 2 GB
DH0 my main system approx 2 GB FastFileSystem with Long filenames (DOS\07)
DH1 approx 35 GB JXFileSystem (JXF\04) for my other stuff
DH2 approx 5 GB FastFileSystem with Long filenames (DOS\07) for AmiCygnix

Recently, I added 160 GB partition as per my previous post. Although it seemed to work at first, I could not boot from hard drive after a cold boot.

Only solution was to delete the 160 GB partition.

----
In the early days of OS4, I had a 1.3 GB hard drive with a single FFS partition. Then I upgraded to my 40 GB Maxtor hard drive with a single FFS partition of about 35 GB. Later on, I carved that drive up into a smaller system partition and a large 2nd partition, both FFS. When I installed AmigaOS 4.1 on the Maxtor drive, I had a SWAP partition, a small FFS system partition, and a large JXFS partition.

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redfox

@redfox

There is no maximum partition size (unless there is a bug), that is why JXFS exists. SFS/0 has a maximum partition size of about 120GB, SFS/2 fixed that but perhaps the fix was not a good fix which is why JXFS was born.

Maybe, as you say, WD disks have a problem or are different somehow, but I kind of doubt that too.

I've had a couple of WD Caviar disks and they have all worked fine. This disk is a 160GB Maxtor.

Perhaps its buffers got trashed when I first filled up the disk, or perhaps it's simply dying?

UPDATE...

Here are the results of some experiments I performed today.
My system is a MicroA1 with AmigaOS 4.1 with QuickFixes.
Western Digital 250 GB 3.5" hard drive
I already have two FFS partitions and a JXFS partition.
I am trying to add a second JXFS partition.

Added a 100 GB JXFS partition ... seemed ok until I did a cold boot.

Please insert volume
ENV:
in any drive.

Removed partition ... system boots ok.

Added a 35 GB JXFS partition ... seemed ok until I did a cold boot.

Please insert volume
ENV:
in any drive.

Removed partition ... system boots ok.

Added a 5 GB JXFS partition ... seemed ok until I dd a cold boot.

Please insert volume
ENV:
in any drive.

Removed partition ... system boots ok.

Added a 5.5 GB FFS partition ... no problems at all.

The new 5.5 GB FFS partition is fine and usable. System boots fine.

End of beta testing. Have a nice day guys.

---
redfox

@redfox

One question: Did you make your JXFS partition bootable?
In that case OS4 (not U-Boot) might try to boot it everytime you try to add it, but it's empty so you get Please insert ENV:.

OS4 can most likely boot JXFS, but U-Boot cannot load kickstart modules from JXFS. This might get confusing since it has happened many time for me that U-Boots boots another partition than OS4 does!

For example, UBoot may load kickstart modules from somewhere, but OS4 say no bootable disk found and puts up that purple insert disk screen.

@Deniil

No. I have not clicked the button to make the new partition bootable. The only partition that is bootable is my main system partition. But it does sound as if the system is confused as to where to look for ENV:.

All of my partitions are on the same hard drive.
SWAP
DH0 = main system = FFS
DH1 = miscellaneous stuff = JXFS
DH2 = a small FFS partition for AmiCygnix

I was adding the 2nd JXFS partition as DH3 as the next partition in the empty space beyond the others.

---
redfox

@Deniil

I hope that someone or better the author of JFXS will answer you because I had the same errors with this filesystem and with sfs 02 too.
Even with the recovery tools, nothing has been done to correct these errors except reformat.
That is not a solution when you have no more place to backup all your data...

Hope we will find a solution.

YesCop

Update...

I deleted my 2nd FFS partition and created a 2nd JXFS partition to use up the rest of the hard drive. System boots up fine with no complaints whatsoever.

So far I have only 2 videos stored in the new partition.

SWAP
DH0 = FFS = main OS4.1 system partition approx 2 GB
DH1 = JXFS = miscellaneous stuff approx 35 GB
DH2 = JXFS = some more stuff approx 193 GB

I'll play around some more and see if I can squeeze in AmiCygnix somewhere else on the hard drive.

---
redfox

Final Update...

I changed the size of my 2nd JXFS partition by deleting it and adding it again leaving some room at the end of the hard drive for a smaller partition.

I added another small FFS partition at the end of the drive ... seemed ok until I did a cold boot.

Please insert volume
ENV:
in any drive.

I booted up the system using my CD and changed this last partition to SmartFilesystem (SFS\00) and the system boots just fine from hard drive.

In summary ...

My system will not boot from hard drive with 2 FFS partitions and 2 JXFS partitions.
SWAP
DH0 = FFS = main OS4.1 system partition approx 2 GB
DH1 = JXFS = miscellaneous stuff approx 35 GB
DH2 = JXFS = some more stuff approx 190 GB
DH3 = FFS of any size

My system boots just fine with the following mixture, with no complaints whatsoever:

SWAP
DH0 = FFS = main OS4.1 system partition approx 2 GB
DH1 = JXFS = miscellaneous stuff approx 35 GB
DH2 = JXFS = some more stuff approx 190 GB
DH3 = SmartFilesystem (SFS\00) of 2.8 GB

---
redfox

@redfox

Your finding seems wierd to say the least..

My JXFS volume has disappeared completely now The partition is still there though says MediaToolbox and it is auto-mountable.

It disappeared after I connected and removed my CompactFlash card I have for back ups.

Because of bit errors I got on the CF card aswell I decided to comment out Kickstart/diskcache.library.kmod. Perhaps that is why the JXFS partition doesn't mount? Does it require diskcache.library?

@Deniil

Check if the Last ID, Last TID, and Last LUN buttons are set the right way on all your hdds in MTB.

@Deniil

I don't know very much about the Kickstart modules, but I suspect that Kickstart/diskcache.library.kmod is required for JXFS.

I commented out Kickstart/diskcache.library.kmod in my Kicklayout and neither of my JXFS partitions appeared on the Workbench on next reboot. Then I restored the Kickstart/diskcache.library.kmod line to normal in Kicklayout and both of my JXFS partitions appeared again on the next reboot.

---
redfox

@ZeroG

The disk isn't gone, only the JXFS partition. I clicked Save in MTB after it wanted to change those settings.

@redfox

Ok, thanks. I'll restore it then and see.

@Deniil

I thought I mentioned this, but apparently didn't.

After a clean reboot (to avoid broken caches) I have now reformated the partition again (and made it slightly smaller to avoid the far end of the disk), copied back 80GB of data without a single error and I'm very happy

JXFS *is* faster than SFS, especially in directory scanning. I'd say twice as fast, but also faster in copying; about 10-20%.

Hi @redfox
(reply to #44)
Added a 5.5 GB FFS partition ... no problems at all.
The new 5.5 GB FFS partition is fine and usable. System boots fine.
End of beta testing. Have a nice day guys.
Thanks for the testing and filling in missing info gaps!

@Snuffy

Sorry about the beta testing comment ... I'm not a beta tester, just someone who had lots of room available on a hard drive. I was quite surprised with my results, especially when my system could not find ENV:.

Just to recap my testing ...

My system is a MicroA1 with AmigaOS 4.1 with QuickFixes.
one Western Digital 250 GB 3.5" hard drive

At the time I started testing I already had
two FFS partitions
one JXFS partition

I ran into problems when I added my second JXFS partition.

Likewise, when I deleted the second FFS partition, I could add another JXFS partition with no problems, but I ran into problems when I added another FFS partition after that.

In summary, my particular system works fine with ...

two FFS partitions
one JXFS partition

-or-

one FFS partition
two JXFS partitions

-or-

one FFS partitions
two JXFS partitions
one SFS partition

-BUT NOT-

two FFS partitions
two JXFS partitions

---
redfox

BTW, my system started acting up shortly after these tests. It was not booting up properly. Could not find the hard drive and would scan bus 0 for about 30 seconds and give up. Would not boot from CD-ROM drive at all. I am not sure yet if it is related to any of the testing above or related to recent battery replacement or just a coincidence. In anycase I now have the hard drive connected to the secondary IDE bus on my MicroA1 and the CD-ROM drive connected to the primary IDE bus. So at least I can boot from CD-ROM if it happens again.