Amiga supradrive User manual

Amiga

INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on purchasing a SupraDrive™ Hard Disk System
for your Amiga® computer. our SupraDrive will greatly enhance
your computer by providing much better data access time and
storage capacity than floppy disks. Directories, icons, and
graphics will appear much faster, programs will load quicker, and
the Amiga interface will seem smoother.
Prize Performance
Of course, one of the most important reasons to get a SupraDrive is
performance, and now you've got it. our SupraDrive has been
carefully designed and fined tuned by engineers who truly
understand the intricacies of the Amiga, and the result is the
fastest line of hard disks in the industry. Only the best drive
mechanisms are used, blind data transfers make the drives three
times faster, and Supra software takes full advantage of every shot
at speed, including making the most of the Fast File System.
Advanced, Easy-to- nsta Hardware
All SupraDrives give you state-of-the-art hardware design in an
easy-to-use product. Computer-specific features include
autobooting capabilities for the Amiga 500 and 2000, Amiga bus
pass-through for the Amiga 500 and 1000, and optional RAM that
fits in the Amiga 500 Supra SCSI Interface and draws its power
from the hard disk, protecting the fragile Amiga 500 power supply.
Installation is as easy as plugging the interface into an Amiga 500
or 1000 or placing a DMA hard card in an Amiga 2000 expansion
slot. And if you want to daisy-chain drives or build a custom
system using a Supra SCSI Interface and your own components, you
can do that too — Supra makes it easy.
Introduction

State-of-the-Art Software
our SupraDrive comes with many programs, but three are
especially important for enhancing its performance and usefulness.
The first is the hard disk formatting and partitioning program,
SupraFormat™, which allows you to divide the hard disk into as
many as 30 individual partitions, each accessed as an individually
named logical disk drive (dh0: through dh29:). This allows your
computer to access information on the disk more efficiently,
improving overall system performance. The second is SupraEdit™,
which gives you maximum flexibility by providing full access to
mount list parameters without actually having to maintain a mount
list. The third program is CLImate™, which makes your computer
easier to use by letting you bypass the Amiga’s Command Line
Interface (CLI) and perform many operations without using the
keyboard.
All Supra software is compatible with Workbench™ 1.3 —
including the Fast File System (FFS) and autobooting — as well as
earlier versions of Commodore-Amiga software. And Supra
software gives Amiga Bridgeboard™ owners an extra benefit — the
ability to use part of their SupraDrives for MS-DOS partitions.
Easy to Use
When shipped, SupraDrives are completely formatted and ready
to use. All you need to do is plug the drive in and turn on your
Amiga. The drive will automatically boot, and the Workbench
will appear with an icon for each hard disk partition. Then you
can use the SupraDrive the same way you would use a regular
floppy disk — you can create, modify, save, and delete files; run
applications; and do anything else you need to do.
Please carefully follow the instructions in this manual for
installing and getting the most from your SupraDrive. With proper
care, your SupraDrive should give you many years of trouble-free
operation.
Introduction

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1
TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................3
1: INSTALLING YOUR SUPRADRIVE..................................................7
Connecting an Externa SupraDrive to an Amiga 500 or
Amiga 1000 Computer
....................................................................... 8
Unpacking.....................................................................................8
Connecting the SupraDrive to Your Amiga.............................8
Connecting RAM Boards to the Amiga 500 or Amiga 1000
Supra SCSI Interface (Optiona )
.............................................. 10
Insta ing an Interna SupraDrive in an Amiga 2000 Computer ...11
Unpacking
........................ ..........................................................11
Insta ing the SupraDrive
......................................................... 11
Using Acce erator Boards in an Amiga 2000 (Optiona )
...... 16
2: GETTING STARTED.........................................................................17
Booting .............................................................................................. 17
Booting From F oppy Disk........................................................17
Autobooting
................................................................................ 18
Misce aneous Booting Information ........................................ 19
Resetting Your System....................................................................19
Parking Your SupraDrive
.............................................................. 20
Turning Off Your System ................................................................. 20
Reading Updates to This Manua ..................................................21
3: USING YOUR SUPRADRIVE
.......................................................... 22
Copying Fi es.....................................................................................22
Using App ications Software
........................................................... 22
Software Written for Use with Workbench 1.1
...................... 22
Programs that are Incompatib e with the Fast Fi e System ..23
Software that Does Not Work Efficient y with a Hard Disk....23
Improving Hard Disk Speed.............................................................25
Large Amounts of Data
........................................................... 25
Fragmentation............................................................................25
The AddBuffers Command.....................................................26
Table of Contents

Insta ing Supra System Software..................................................26
Backing Up the SupraDrive
........................................................... 27
Saving Preferences..........................................................................27
Renaming Partitions........................................................................28
4: USING CLIMATE..............................................................................29
Introduction........................................................................................29
CLImate Features and Capabi ities..........................................29
CLImate System Requirements
.............................................. 30
Starting CLImate................................................................................30
Using CLImate....................................................................................31
Source and Destination..................................................................32
Parent.......................................................................................... 32
Doub e Arrow..............................................................................33
Modes.................................................................................................33
Batch Mode................................................................................33
Rename Mode...........................................................................36
Disp ay Mode.............................................................................36
Showpic Mode...........................................................................36
Tasks that Aren’t Mode-Specific
................................................... 37
Formatting F oppy Disks............................................................37
Creating Directories...................................................................38
Running Other Programs and Using Other Amiga
Features Without Quitting CLImate
........................................ 38
CLImate and RAM..............................................................................38
Quitting CLImate
.............................................................................. 38
5: USING CLI AND SHELL.................................................................39
The CLI and She Icons.................................................................39
The Start-up Sequence...................................................................40
Using CLI Commands to Maximize the Usefu ness of
a Hard Disk..........................................................................................40
Using She Scripts
.......................................................................... 41
Table of Contents

6: FORMATTING, MAPPING, AND ZEROING YOUR
SUPRADRIVE....................................................................................42
Shou d You Format, Map, or Zero Your Hard Disk?
.................... 42
What Are Formatting, Mapping, and Zeroing?
............................. 42
What They Are
.......................................................................... 42
What They Are Used For
.......................................................... 43
Using SupraFormat...........................................................................43
Before Running SupraFormat
....................................................... 45
Running SupraFormat.....................................................................45
Specifying the Hard Disk Type and Contro er Type.............46
Setting the SCSI and LUN Numbers.....................................47
Specifying the Number of Partitions and Setting
Partition Attributes
..................................................................... 48
Starting a Format, Map, or Zero................................................52
After a Format, Map, or Zero
.................................................. 53
Writing Partition Information......................................................53
7: CREATING SPECIALIZED SYSTEMS...........................................55
"Bai ing Out" After Making Changes
.............................................. 56
Re-Insta ing Icons Using Supra cons...........................................56
Making Any F oppy Disk Capab e of Booting the System
.......... 57
Changing How Partitions Are Mounted
........................................ 58
Using SupraMount....................................................................58
Using the CLI Mount Command and Mount List
.................. 59
Changing Low-Leve System Information Using SupraEdit
...... 60
Running SupraEdit
................ 60
Making Changes on the SupraEdit Screen
........................... 61
Table of Contents

8: TROUBLESHOOTING.....................................................................65
Genera Troub eshooting Ideas.....................................................65
Booting Prob ems.............................................................................66
Prob ems When Booting from F oppy Disk...........................66
B ank Screen When Trying to Boot
...................................... 66
Missing Workbench, Icons, or Partitions
................................ 67
Unusua LED (BUSY Light) & Frozen System
...................... 67
Amiga 2000 LED Doesn’t F icker When System Boots
...... 68
Can't Boot After Changing Start-up Sequence
.................... 68
Boot Takes One Minute or More to Comp ete
...................... 68
Error Messages Encountered Whi e Booting........................69
Software Prob ems...........................................................................70
Software that Doesn't Work Proper y
...................................... 70
Prob ems Whi e Using Hard Disk Backup, "Rearranger,"
and Optimizer Programs............................................................71
SupraFormat Prob ems.............................................................71
Misce aneous Prob ems..................................................................72
System Crashes Whi e Copying Large Amounts of Data ....72
Running Out of Memory............................................................72
Screen Prob ems.......................................................................73
Amiga 1000 C ock Returns "Garbage” Characters
............... 73
Read/Write Errors.......................................................................73
"Insufficient Free Store" Message
......................................... 74
"Key Not Set" Message...........................................................74
Message Saying To Use DiskDoctor
..................................... 74
Contacting Supra Customer Service
............................................. 75
Warranty..............................................................................................75
FCC Ru es......................................................................................... 76
A: SUPRADRIVE HARD DISK UTILITIES...........................................77
B: SUPRAFORMATS DEFAULT DEVICE IDS
................................. 78
C: RESOURCES....................................................................................79
INDEX..........................................................................................................80
Table of Contents

1
INSTALLING YOUR SUPRADRIVE
Installation instructions for different Supra products can be found in
the following places:
Task Location of Instructions
connecting an external Supra- first half of this
Drive to an Amiga 500 or 1000 chapter
installing an internal Supra-
Drive in an Amiga 2000 second half of this
chapter
building a custom system using
your own components and a
Supra SCSI Interface
separate installation
instructions (supplied
with interface kits)
Information on connecting more than one hard disk to your Amiga is
in the Docs folder on the SupraTools floppy disk.
NOTE — If you have an autoboot ROM in your
Supra SCSI Interface and you don't have a
Kickstart™ 13 (or later) ROM in your computer,
you must add a Kickstart 13 ROM to your computer
or remove the autoboot ROM from your interface.
To determine if you have a Kickstart 13 ROM, boot your Amiga
without a hard disk connected to your system. If your Amiga asks
for Workbench 13, you do have a Kickstart 13 ROM. If it asks for
Workbench 13, you don't have a Kickstart 13 ROM.
If you don't have a Kickstart 13 ROM and your system won’t boot
when your hard disk is connected (and your screen stays blank), you
have an autoboot ROM in your interface. Contact your dealer to
obtain a Kickstart 13 ROM, or refer to the separate instructions
called Removing Autoboot ROMs from a Supra SCSI Interface.
Installing Your SupraDrive 7

Connecting an Externa SupraDrive to an
Amiga 500 or Amiga 1000 Computer
Unpacking
The following items should be included in your SupraDrive
package:
• SupraDrive Hard Disk
• Supra SCSI Interface
• AC power cord
• two floppy disks: SupraBoot and SupraTools
• this operator's manual
CAUTION — Like any hard disk, the SupraDrive is a
very fragile piece of equipment. Be very careful when
handling it. Mechanical shock, high or low
temperature extremes, excessive moisture, and a sudden
drop or jarring should all be avoided.
We recommend saving the SupraDrive’s original box and packing
materials in case you need to move or ship your drive.
Before using your SupraDrive, please make back-up copies of
SupraBoot and SupraTools. For your convenience, neither disk is
copy protected.
Connecting the SupraDrive to Your Amiga
Before connecting the SupraDrive to your Amiga, make sure both
are turned off and unplugged. Then follow these steps:
1. Connect the interface to the expansion port on the side of
your Amiga. (The expansion port is on the left side of the
Amiga 500 and the right side of the Amiga 1000.) ou may
need to remove the plastic cover from the expansion port.
2. Connect the SupraDrive's interface cable to the back of the
interface.
3. Connect the power cord to the SupraDrive and an AC power
outlet.
8 Installing Your SupraDrive