Guide on how to create a Hard Disk image from scratch and transfer it

[eidis]

 Hi Guys !

Here is a similar method to which I used for creating HDD images from scratch. For this you will need XM6, MasterDisk floppy image and DiskExplorer. WinImage is also required for dumping and restoring RAW HDD images.

MasterDisk:
http://nfggames.com/users/eidis/MasterDisk.zip

DiskExplorer:
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA013937/editdisk/index_e.html

WinImage:
www.winimage.com or gentleman version from the usual places


1) Create an empty file by typing the following command in DOS promt: fsutil file createnew test.hds 1000000000

2) Launch XM6 and mount test.hds as SxSI image. Boot from MasterDisk.xdf and type the following commands:

cd sxsi
scsiformat.x

3) Select ID of the drive which you mounted the image to and press the following keys:

Press Y to initialize hard disk image
Press Y to format the hard disk image
Press 2 to create new partition
Press A to allocate all available free space
Enter 32 for maximum root directory entries
Press Y to transfer system files to HDD image
Press A to select first floppy drive as source system drive
Press 4 to enter boot flag menu
Press 0 to make the image bootable
Press 8 to exit the format utility

4) Type "copyall a:*.* c:" without brackets to copy entire contents of floppy disk to newly created HDD image. This step is mandatory, otherwise the system will not boot. human.sys and command.x are absolute minimum requirements for the system to boot into DOS prompt.

5) Type the following commands to install bootloader into SRAM (Only required for SASI machines.)

bootset.x  - SRAM bootloader installer
ED0100     - Start address of loader in SRAM
1               - boot delay in seconds

6) Exit XM6 and launch DiskExplorer. Open test.hds and sellect "Human68k HDD SCSI" when prompted. You should now be able to see the contents of your HDD image. In order to avoid data corruption you need to know the following things:

a) The safest method of importing files is by opening two instances of DiskExplorer and importing straight from one to other. This will eliminate incorrect characters in file names. Subdirectories and files are sorted in alphabetical order when importing so for best results import main directory which has many subdirectories to get a clean alphabetical listing with command DIR under pure DOS.

b) Always fully close the destination instance of DiskExplorer after importing something to the image. This is a trial and tested rule to avoid data corruption.

c) There can not be two files or directories in current directory with the same first 8 characters. For example: If I would create directories Populous1, Populous2 and Populous3 the system would change to the first created directory if I tried to list contents of Populous3 because their first 8 characters are the same. This is not a DiskExplorer bug but is inherent to the system.

d) Programs which rely on TwentyOne (long file name support) will not work if imported with DiskExplorer. After importing they are treated with the same 8 character rule as described earlier. Lucky for us TwentyOne is almost never used in games. The only one I know which uses it is DuelFighter 2

e) Sometimes floppy disk image size for games which use 2hdsim get changed. This is a bug of DiskExplorer and can easily be remedied with JSplit.

More info here:
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:installing_games_to_hard_drive#example_5_-_installing_pipe_dream_and_running_it_from_hard_drive

f) Some rare 1% of games get corrupted while copying with DiskExplorer. R-Type and VBall are some of them. These corruptions can be easily spotted and the rule of thumb here is if a game launches without problems, it is probably fine.

g) After you have finished your image, create an empty file as described earlier with the same amount of bytes which DiskExplorer reports as free space. Import the created file into your image and then delete it. This will wipe all data from free space and will help to compress the image better.


7) Launch WinImage (Suggested by Caius and is the most easiest method of creating and restoring images)

a) To restore image, select "Disk -> Restore Virtual Hard Disk image on physical drive" or

b) To create image, Select "Disk -> Creating Virtual Hard Disk image from physical drive" and select vhd format when prompted. This will make a RAW dump. Rename the extension of created image to hds to make it visible to XM6



Any constructive thoughts and suggestions are highly welcome.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[SuperDeadite]

Although not quite as fast as Disk Explorer.  I find it safer to simply mount both HD images inside an emulator (on separate SCSI IDs), then copy from one to the other that way, as if you are doing so on a real machine.  You don't have to worry about fonts or corruption at all.  Especially useful for weirdo image types such as 2HDE and 2HS, which DExplorer will corrupt 100% of the time.

[eidis]

A quick use of Google revealed contact information of DiskExplorer's creator.

Author & contact :
junnno (N.Inoue)
norinoue@mbox.kyoto-inet.or.jp

Latest version Acquisition:
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA013937/

Let's gather all our knowledge about the bugs in version 1.69 and write a letter to the author.

At present we know that DiskExplorer does not support TwentyOne, 2HDE, 2HS and corrupts data. Now we need to find a way of how to faithfully reproduce the data corruption so that Mr.Inoue could hopefully fix it. Please post you thoughts and suggestions.

Eidis

[neko68k]

I think DiskExplorer hasn't been updated in years. Maybe we'll have to collect all the data we can on how the various formats work and write our own tool.

Personally I use an emulator, one hd image and windrv to copy files directly from a windows host drive to my x68 scsi drive.

[AnnaWu]

I think DiskExplorer hasn't been updated in years. Maybe we'll have to collect all the data we can on how the various formats work and write our own tool.

Personally I use an emulator, one hd image and windrv to copy files directly from a windows host drive to my x68 scsi drive.

The *.xdf/*.hdf/*.hds (and maybe some other formats too) support is already on eueeno`s  todo list. He need  more time, at moment  he is very busy with his job.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley/2994/

[craiganderson]

im gonna give this a try

i think there was a step missing in this list
im gonna give it another try and get back to you

Press Y to initialize hard disk image
Press Y to format the hard disk image
Press 2 to create new partition
Press A to allocate all available free space
Enter 32 for maximum root directory entries
Press Y to transfer system files to HDD image
Press A to select first floppy drive as source system drive
Press 4 to enter boot flag menu
Press 0 to make the image bootable
Press 8 to exit the format utility

[craiganderson]

Press Y to initialize hard disk image
Press Y to format the hard disk image
Press 2 to create new partition
Press A to allocate all available free space
Enter 32 for maximum root directory entries
Press Y to transfer system files to HDD image
Press A to select first floppy drive as source system drive
Press 4 to enter boot flag menu

RIGHT HERE: It asks "Please select partition for which to change type (inp <=15)"
.........what do I do here?? thanks
see video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leZmibn41ts&feature=youtu.be
(the video starts with me about to "Press 2 to create new partition"

Press 0 to make the image bootable
Press 8 to exit the format utility

[eidis]

 Hi CraigAnderson !

You need to press 1 to select the first partition.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[craiganderson]

OK I got through most of this
pardon my newbie questions

lets say i was trying to turn a 3 disk game into a hds file

awesome game disk 1.xdf
awesome game disk 2.xdf
awesome game disk 3.xdf

i dont understand where in the steps above these three files would be maniplated/involved??

thanks

[eidis]

 Hi CraigAnderson !

i dont understand where in the steps above these three files would be maniplated/involved??

The SCSI template which I mentioned countless times in my posts was created specially for you so there will be no need to create new image, format it, copy the bare minimum system files to it. All of this has been done already and can be found in the SCSI HDD template. It is a bootable HDD image where you only need to copy files to GAME directory, rename it so that it matches the name of the game and edit main autoexec.bat and create a !Start.bat file for the game itself.

More info on installing can be found here:

Installing games to hard drive
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:installing_games_to_hard_drive

Keep in mind that some games can be installed easily while others take days of experimenting.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[craiganderson]

thank you very much
please keep in mind that all of this is old hat to you obviously (cuz u crank out those hds files in minutes...thanks again))

but this is like learning japanese to me
this is first time i am even hearing the terms that get thrown around easily by the more experienced folks on here

thank you very much
this is an awesome forum
craig

[craiganderson]

Hi CraigAnderson !

i dont understand where in the steps above these three files would be maniplated/involved??

The SCSI template which I mentioned countless times in my posts was created specially for you so there will be no need to create new image, format it, copy the bare minimum system files to it. All of this has been done already and can be found in the SCSI HDD template. It is a bootable HDD image where you only need to copy files to GAME directory, rename it so that it matches the name of the game and edit main autoexec.bat and create a !Start.bat file for the game itself.

More info on installing can be found here:

Installing games to hard drive
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:installing_games_to_hard_drive

Keep in mind that some games can be installed easily while others take days of experimenting.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

for instance when you say "copy the bare minimum system files to it."
i literally do not know how to do that.
in what do i open the template and how do i copy files to it?

when i open it in editdisk program,...i dont see anything in there???LOL

thanks for any help

[eidis]

 Hi CraigAnderson !

Launch editdisk.exe
Select scsi_template.hds
Select Human68k HDD SCSI

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis