Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

IDE, ACSI etc kits and products.
Post Reply
microman
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:55 pm

Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

Post by microman »

I have an STM and an STFM and am in the process of adding an ACSI2STM hard disk emulator.

There are a couple of questions:

1) What is the largest partition that I can use?
2) What is the largest bootable partition that I can use?

Some articles suggest that I can use a 232 Mb boot partition plus other larger non-bootable. Whereas in other places it suggests that 32 Mb is the largest bootable partition.

Any clarification would be appreciated.

Thanks

Peter
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 10476
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

Post by rubber_jonnie »

This is the partition size guide from Jookies website, he of Ultrasatan and CosmosEx fame:

Screenshot 2022-03-06 at 23.57.24.png
Screenshot 2022-03-06 at 23.57.24.png (82.12 KiB) Viewed 2058 times

Taken from this page: http://joo.kie.sk/?page_id=345
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
sporniket
Posts: 956
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2020 9:12 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

Post by sporniket »

I would also cite PPutnik from here https://atariage.com/forums/topic/28461 ... nt=4148281

long story short, the limit of the boot partition seems to be related to the boot code stored on the MBR, that is read and executed by TOS. So it seems some drivers (I guess HDD driver and PP driver at least) can use 512MB partitions as boot partitions.

Of note also on this post, it is said the 32MB sized partition is the one format that is natively compatible with DOS (FAT16), thus may be useful for exchanging files ?
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 10476
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Yes, I'd agree with what @sporniket said, and it prompted me to go and check one of my machines that uses HDDRIVER, and my C: partition is 512MB and is bootable.

I also set mine up with Windows compatibility, so I can see every partition on the SD card under Windows or MacOS. I know PPeras driver will do the same under Windows, so I assume under MacOS, though I haven't tested it, and I don't have a machine using it at the moment so I can't say re partition sizes like I can for HDDRIVER.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
Psiq
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2021 4:05 pm

Re: Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

Post by Psiq »

I use PPDrivers and my boot drive is 512MB.

Matt
User avatar
Darklord
Posts: 901
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2017 1:41 pm

Re: Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

Post by Darklord »

I use HDDRiver v11.x and 512 meg partitions (including the
boot drive) with TOS v1.4 and up here are perfectly normal.
Welcome To DarkForce! www.darkforce.org "The Fuji Lives.!"
Atari SW/HW based BBS-Telnet:darkforce-bbs.dyndns.org 1040
User avatar
HigashiJun
Posts: 1195
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:21 am
Location: Tokyo

Re: Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

Post by HigashiJun »

I think the "legend" limiting the boot partition to 16 MB, 32 MB or 256 MB comes from times when ICD Pro Driver was the unique choice, and was a real limit...

Drivers such as HDDriver and PPutnik let you set a boot partition which is only limited by TOS, i.e. 256 MB for TOS 1.00-TOS 1.02, 512 MB for TOS 1.04-TOS 3.xx and 1024 MB for TOS 4.0x.

I have 2 systems under TOS 2.06 and my boot partitions are 512 MB with HDDriver.
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 10476
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:40 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Max bootable partition size on STM/STFM Tos 1.04

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Double checked my Mega 4 that uses IDE and a CF card rather than ACSI and 512MB with HDDRIVER. Not that I think it'd make a difference, just for the extra reference point.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
Post Reply

Return to “HARD DRIVES”