Zap! Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I got my US in 2016, and have a Mega STE to go along with it. It has two SD cards. The left side SD card has all of the system files, and is not compatible with my Windows PC. It came with my US. The right side is for when I download a program off of my PC. I take it out, transfer the files, and put it back. Well, it was a while since I transferred anything, so I forgot for a minute. I put the left SD card into my PC by accident, and as always, it said "You need to format the disk in drive X before you can use it" etc., so obviously I canceled. I probably didn't eject, but I don't remember. Needless to say, booting the STE no longer shows anything except for Floppy Disk A & B, and the Trash icons. The HD light comes on and flashes twice when the STE boots, but stops after a second. After the memory test, it does the same thing again and flashes twice for a second. Clicking Option, Install Device does nothing. I have way too many programs on that SD card, it would be a huge pain to find them all again. Is there anything I can try before I get another card and do all that partition work? Is there any way to attempt to repair the drive in Windows? How could I even, when Windows doesn't read it? Does MS-DOS read it? And why doesn't it read it in the first place, since my other card does? ST and Windows sorta mix, it's not like Amiga and Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 you should be able to set the US to boot from the second SD card, then you might be able to get some utility to repair the broken drive. I don't have a US, but there must be a way to configure the boot sequence 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarkdluG Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Probably the auto boot driver/boot record that is wiped. Try installing it again (on the Atari). Which HD driver are you using? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 1 hour ago, snarkdluG said: Probably the auto boot driver/boot record that is wiped. Try installing it again (on the Atari). Which HD driver are you using? Well, when I bought the US in 2016, it came with the SD system card. I then bought Peter Putnik's drivers right after I got it. I never had to install much on it the first place, since it all came with the US. I'd prefer to buy an SD card from someone with the system already on it if that's even possible. If not, how would I go about installing it? The card won't read in Windows. Did you mean with another card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saulot Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 No, launch driver from floppy drive and check if drives are detected/showing up. If yes, then add C drive icon if tos is below 2.06, otherwise there's automatic option to detect new drives/install new icons. Try to open C (maybe others). You should get an access to your files. If not then something else is going on. I don't know how ppera drivers operate, but there should be option to install them on c drive somehow from floppy or from install on your hd/sd.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 2 minutes ago, saulot said: No, launch driver from floppy drive and check if drives are detected/showing up. If yes, then add C drive icon if tos is below 2.06, otherwise there's automatic option to detect new drives/install new icons. Try to open C (maybe others). You should get an access to your files. If not then something else is going on. I don't know how ppera drivers operate, but there should be option to install them on c drive somehow from floppy or from install on your hd/sd.. Thank you, I will try this tonight when I get home from work. I can make a floppy with my XP or 98 machine, thankfully. I will search how boot Peter's files from a floppy. I might even have one with his stuff already on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 Leaving for work now, but I rushed to find Peter's files on a floppy. By running us10r.prg, it produced the first pic. Then I swapped disks and got the second pic. Sure wish I had more time, but work calls. So what do you think? Hope for my files? Or little chance of a recovery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saulot Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 (edited) I don't know those drivers, I usally use hd driver. Anyway looks like there is DOS partition on H, but no bootable C drive? But after installing driver and installing H drive icon(install icon, and type H) you should have access to H. On first screen it looks like there is 0 Atari partitions, so this doesn't look good. But dos one should be accessible I suppose.. Edited January 24 by saulot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 I wouldn't attempt any further modifications to that card at all ! Any additional modification risks producing more damage. Get some SD card imaging tools. If you have access to a Linux system, they are built-in. Otherwise you might need to download some software. Perform a sector level image of the card. Now you are safe. You have a digital backup. Store the image and the card in a safe place. Make a second copy of the image. You can now try to recover the files directly from the image. If you don't have anything confidential on the card you might want to post the image and other people might be able to help on the recovery. You can also write the image to a different card and try anything you want, knowing that the original card and image would not be affected. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 On 1/24/2024 at 6:37 PM, saulot said: I don't know those drivers, I usally use hd driver. Anyway looks like there is DOS partition on H, but no bootable C drive? But after installing driver and installing H drive icon(install icon, and type H) you should have access to H. On first screen it looks like there is 0 Atari partitions, so this doesn't look good. But dos one should be accessible I suppose.. On 1/25/2024 at 1:59 PM, ijor said: I wouldn't attempt any further modifications to that card at all ! Any additional modification risks producing more damage. Get some SD card imaging tools. If you have access to a Linux system, they are built-in. Otherwise you might need to download some software. Perform a sector level image of the card. Now you are safe. You have a digital backup. Store the image and the card in a safe place. Make a second copy of the image. You can now try to recover the files directly from the image. If you don't have anything confidential on the card you might want to post the image and other people might be able to help on the recovery. You can also write the image to a different card and try anything you want, knowing that the original card and image would not be affected. Thanks guys, but I decided to format and partition, since the files I had added I can obtain again, except of course for some high scores and all of the stuff that came pre-loaded with the US, such as demos and other useful things (anyone have a link to the pre-included files?). I am using Peter's drivers. Well, for the first time ever, two cards work together in my US. I downloaded the RT clock files and put one in the AUTO folder, and all is good so far as I slowly fill up the drive. Quick questions: 1) For your US, besides the RT clock file, what do you put in your AUTO folder? I know startup looks slightly different. Do I need to add anything to maximize my power? I have a Mega STE. It says 8 MHz, but I could swear it was 16 before. I could be wrong though... 2) What's a great site for PD/Shareware that doesn't only use image files? I'm not interested in .st files, only zipped files that include .prg or .tos. Seems almost all of them only offer image files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 7 hours ago, Zap! said: Quick questions: 1) For your US, besides the RT clock file, what do you put in your AUTO folder? I know startup looks slightly different. Do I need to add anything to maximize my power? I have a Mega STE. It says 8 MHz, but I could swear it was 16 before. I could be wrong though... 2) What's a great site for PD/Shareware that doesn't only use image files? I'm not interested in .st files, only zipped files that include .prg or .tos. Seems almost all of them only offer image files. 1) You do know that the Mega STe has an RTC (real time clock) and that you don't *have* to use the US's clock or software, right? I always put the following in my AUTO folder Little Green File selector (replacement file selector) Maccel ( mouse acceleration and simple screen saver) (you might want to go with NVDI instead) PINHEAD (makes everything load faster) And a whole lot more. It just depends on how involved you want to get. You also want to have at least XCONTROL.ACC and the various CPX's (control panel extensions) that are very useful. From there, you can check your speed, blitter, cache on/off etc,... 2) Now that you've got working, reliable mass storage space, go to P.Pera's website: https://atari.8bitchip.info/fromhd3.php?s=n#DL and download over 1600+ games that have been fixed for newer versions of TOS, increased RAM and able to run on hard drives. Many also have trainers and scanned in intro pictures of the games box cover. Good stuff. There's a whole lot more you can do with your Mega STe - replacement desktops, accelerators, etc. There's a whole universe out there just waiting for you! Have fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillek Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 4 minutes ago, DarkLord said: 1) You do know that the Mega STe has an RTC (real time clock) and that you don't *have* to use the US's clock or software, right? I always put the following in my AUTO folder Well, unless your battery is dead and you don't feel like paying $45 for a replacement..... https://www.batterydoctor.com.au/store/tl-5242-tadiran-3-6v-lithium-mbu.html Geeze, and I found this link because it was $30 when I last replaced mine and I wanted to confirm it was still that much before I started complaining about THAT price. Little did I know...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 29 Author Share Posted January 29 On 1/27/2024 at 9:12 PM, DarkLord said: 1) You do know that the Mega STe has an RTC (real time clock) and that you don't *have* to use the US's clock or software, right? I honestly forgot, but I have to change the battery. Does using the MSTe's internal battery save memory? On 1/27/2024 at 9:12 PM, DarkLord said: 1) You do know that the Mega STe has an RTC (real time clock) and that you don't *have* to use the US's clock or software, right? I always put the following in my AUTO folder Little Green File selector (replacement file selector) Maccel ( mouse acceleration and simple screen saver) (you might want to go with NVDI instead) PINHEAD (makes everything load faster) And a whole lot more. It just depends on how involved you want to get. You also want to have at least XCONTROL.ACC and the various CPX's (control panel extensions) that are very useful. From there, you can check your speed, blitter, cache on/off etc,... Thanks, I'll check them out! On 1/27/2024 at 9:12 PM, DarkLord said: 2) Now that you've got working, reliable mass storage space, go to P.Pera's website: https://atari.8bitchip.info/fromhd3.php?s=n#DL and download over 1600+ games that have been fixed for newer versions of TOS, increased RAM and able to run on hard drives. Many also have trainers and scanned in intro pictures of the games box cover. Good stuff. I should have been more specific, I am looking for PD/Shareware games and utilities, especially those from the late 80's to mid 90's. I put this time frame as the golden years of Public Domain, and need to get a few that I had back. That link's list, while amazing, seems to be commercial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 On 1/27/2024 at 9:20 PM, Tillek said: Well, unless your battery is dead and you don't feel like paying $45 for a replacement..... https://www.batterydoctor.com.au/store/tl-5242-tadiran-3-6v-lithium-mbu.html Geeze, and I found this link because it was $30 when I last replaced mine and I wanted to confirm it was still that much before I started complaining about THAT price. Little did I know...... I guess I've been pretty lucky with my ST's. Aside from the two "AA" batteries in the Mega ST's I've owned, I only had to change the battery on my Mega STe once. I did socket and change the one in my Falcon, but I did that *before* it actually died, because of all the comments I'd heard about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 16 hours ago, Zap! said: I honestly forgot, but I have to change the battery. Does using the MSTe's internal battery save memory? Er, just making sure I'm not reading that wrong... Do you mean as in RAM? If so, one doesn't have anything to do with the other, as far as I know. If you mean does the Mega STe's battery save things like machine settings/states, then I don't think so either. The Mega STe has dip switches inside to set things like whether 720k floppy formatting options or 1.44meg HD shows up. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can answer this better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ppyo Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 On 1/29/2024 at 1:00 AM, Zap! said: I honestly forgot, but I have to change the battery. Does using the MSTe's internal battery save memory? Thanks, I'll check them out! I should have been more specific, I am looking for PD/Shareware games and utilities, especially those from the late 80's to mid 90's. I put this time frame as the golden years of Public Domain, and need to get a few that I had back. That link's list, while amazing, seems to be commercial. You may want to check TOSEC ST collection: Atari ST TOSEC at Internet Archive 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari030 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 You don't need anything special for a MegaSTE/TT battery. They are pretty easy to DIY on the cheap. You could probably use a CR2032 and make a holder for it. It can be done for under $10. The battery is purely RTC, it doesn't have NVRAM like a Falcon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 On 1/29/2024 at 5:17 PM, DarkLord said: Er, just making sure I'm not reading that wrong... Do you mean as in RAM? If so, one doesn't have anything to do with the other, as far as I know. If you mean does the Mega STe's battery save things like machine settings/states, then I don't think so either. The Mega STe has dip switches inside to set things like whether 720k floppy formatting options or 1.44meg HD shows up. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can answer this better... Yeah, I was asking if using the US's battery instead has any disadvantages, since I have to put that RTC program in boot. 6 hours ago, Atari030 said: You don't need anything special for a MegaSTE/TT battery. They are pretty easy to DIY on the cheap. You could probably use a CR2032 and make a holder for it. It can be done for under $10. The battery is purely RTC, it doesn't have NVRAM like a Falcon. Yeah, I could easily do it, but is it necessary? As long as the US's battery is working fine, is there any reason to change it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 10 hours ago, Ppyo said: You may want to check TOSEC ST collection: Atari ST TOSEC at Internet Archive Thanks, downloading now. Slow server, ready in like 10 hours lol, but that's ok I will check in the morning. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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