Ami File Safe
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Aminet
From: http://aminet.net/package/biz/demo/afsdemo159
Short: Demo of Ami-FileSafe V2.2 (New filing system) Uploader: afssales flevel demon co uk (AFS Sales) Type: disk/misc Architecture: m68k-amigaos Date: 1995-10-10 Download: http://aminet.net/biz/demo/afsdemo159.lha - View contents Readme: http://aminet.net/biz/demo/afsdemo159.readme Downloads: 104 Features of Ami-FileSafe ------------------------ - AFS has much faster disk access than FFS. - AFS will store (On average) more data than FFS on the same disk. - AFS gives vastly improved directory scanning. - AFS is SAFE - If you crash your machine whilst writing Ami-FileSafe partitions will not (unlike OFS & FFS) become invalidated or corrupt. Ami-FileSafe (AFS) Announcement ------------------------------- Since the initial release of Ami-FileSafe there has been a few changes. Ami-FileSafe Pro ---------------- Ami-FileSafe now becomes Ami-FileSafe Pro. The new version includes:- - A MultiUser FileSystem version of AFS. - An on the fly FFS to AFS converter. Current users of Ami-FileSafe can update to Ami-FileSafe Pro free of charge. The retail price of Ami-FileSafe Pro is 69.75UKP (Inc Vat). Ami-FileSafe User ----------------- A new version of AFS called Ami-FileSafe User is now available. Ami-FileSafe User is a budget version of AFS and has the follow limitations:- - It may only be used on one hard drive of upto 650MB. - It does not include the MultiUser FileSystem version of AFS. It does however include the FFS to AFS converter. The retail price of Ami-FileSafe User is 29.95UKP (Inc Vat). Upgrades from Ami-FileSafe User to Ami-FileSafe Pro are 44.80UKP (Inc Vat). Restrictions and Requirements ----------------------------- The demonstration version of Ami-FileSafe will not handle partitions of more than 10MB. It can be installed and automouted in the RidgidBootBlock. Standard mountlists are also supported. Autobooting is supported. Memory usage depends on the number of buffers selected. Benchmarks ---------- Test FFS AFS Units DirScan 409 1780 Files/Second Create 227 1073 K/Second Read 244 1363 K/Second The DirScan, Create and Read tests were done with DiskSpeed V4.2 SeekTest (x100) 53.6 4.4 Seconds SeekTest was done using a custom program (Source code available on request). It performs the following sequence: Seek Start of file Write 4 Bytes Seek to End of file Write 4 Bytes Repeat Reviews ------- A review of Ami-FileSafe is available from Aminet and comp.sys.amiga.reviews. If you would like this review send to you then please ask. Contacts -------- If you are having problems with Ami-FileSafe or would like some more information then please contact Fourth Level Developments not Amiga Shopper. Tel: 0117 985 4455 (6 Lines) Fax: 0117 955 9157 Email: support at flevel.demon.co.uk Mail: Fourth Level Developments 31, Ashley Hill Montpelier Bristol BS6 5JA
Amiga Magazine Rack
- German (?) Scans of a magazine reviewing AFS.
From: http://amr.abime.net/review_22106
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University Miskolc (?)
From: http://mm.iit.uni-miskolc.hu/Amiga/AR/ar318_Sections/news8.html
Ami-FileSafe (AFS) Upgrade your Amiga's performance and reliability with new system software -- replace FFS with a faster, high data-integrity filesystem. With Ami-FileSafe (AFS), your directory listings will be smoothly displayed, and software accessing the disk will run faster. More importantly, AFS ensures your data is safe from invalidation caused by machine crashes and accidental reboots. AFS is always validated -- you will never have to put up with invalid disks again. The consumer version is limited to one 650mb (or smaller) HD. The professional version, perfect for video and audio and other intensive use, includes support for HDs to 9gigs and multi-user security. Independent tests reported by CU/Amiga magazine show AFS using 7-11% less disk space, with write times up to six times faster, and read times up to twice as fast as the best previous file systems. CU/Amiga tested AFS reliability by resetting, powering down and removing SCSI cables while writing to the drives. "Not once through all these heinous eye watering tests could we corrupt the AFS partitions!" US list prices are: Consumer $40, Professional $99.95. AFS FAQ, 03-OCT-95 Ami-FileSafe (AFS) has generated enormous interest. The purpose of this FAQ is to answer the questions we've heard many times, and to provide you with more information about AFS. This FAQ was prepared by Dale L. Larson, el Presidente of Intangible Assets Manufacturing (http://www.iam.com). It is accurate to the best of his knowledge at this time, but AFS is a new product to IAM, and it is a sophisticated piece of software. This is the first preliminary edition of the FAQ, so it is subject to change, we disclaim responsibility for any errors and lies, etc. Q: When/Where can I get AFS? A: AFS is published and supported by Fourth Level Development. Intangible Assets Manufacturing (IAM) is the exclusive distributor for North America (While FLD is the exclusive distributor for IAM products in Europe). IAM makes AFS available through Amiga dis tributors and dealers (both local and mail-order), as well as direct (i.e., mail order). IAM received its first major shipment of product earlier this week, and shipments were sent to many dealers immediately. So if your dealer doesn't stock it, ask her to! Product description, etc., is availble from: Intangible Assets Manufacturing http://www.iam.com ftp:ftp.iam.com/biz/iam/iam.lha (AmigaGuide catalog) info@iam.com 828 Ormond Avenue Drexel Hill, PA 19026-2604 USA tel: +1 610 853 4406 (orders only) fax: +1 610 853 3733 or from: Fourth Level Development afssales@flevel.demon.co.uk 31 Ashley Hill Montpelier Bristol, England BS6 5JA tel: 0117 985 4455 fax: 0117 955 9157 Q: What is the current version of AFS? A: 2.2. Q: How much is AFS? A: There are two versions. AFS Consumer (also called AFS User) is US$40, AFS Pro is US$99.95. Q: What are the limitations of the Consumer version? A: The Consumer version can only be installed to a single partition, and that partition must be on a drive which is less than 650mb capacity (not a partition of 650mb, a drive size of 650mb). You cannot install Consumer onto a 10mb partition of a 700mb disk . You may have other drives and other partitions in your system. The Consumer version also contains no multi-user support. Q: Why are those limitations in Consumer? A: This is basically a marketing decision, but one which is forced on us. AFS is a highly technical product which requires a great deal of development resources. We cannot support those resources with sales of User alone. So we selected limitations on User that would allow those who truly cannot afford Pro (and who do not need multi-user support, which was also expensive to develop) to get use of AFS User, but require those with more sophisticated systems to buy Pro, paying a fair price for the software. Note that the benefits of AFS go up with the size of your harddrive -- a 1gig drive takes much longer to validate than a 200meg drive! Q: What is the policy to upgrade from the User/Consumer version to the Pro version? A: In the US, the cost of the upgrade is the cost of the difference in price plus $10 ($70). You must send in your original disk with payment, then you will be mailed a new Pro disk. This process should take about 7-10 days, but is unavoidable due to serial numbers, etc. Q: Where can I read an independent review of AFS? A: Dave and Dale both say AFS is cool, so what more do you want to know? For you doubters, the September 1995 CU/Amiga did a two-page review, Amiga Computing has a review in their October 1995 issue, and other reviews are being written. Since AFS is evolving fast and magazine reviewers often look at a product more than four months before an issue gets to subscribers, most of the limitations found by reviewers have already been addressed. Q: When will DiskSalv3 understand AFS? A: Dave is working hard on this support, and has been doing so throughout the summer. We expect to be shipping something by January of 1996. (Please note that earlier dates which have been publicly announced did not come from Dave or IAM -- this is IAM's first public statement on the subject.) Q: What is the policy to upgrade DiskSalv3 to AFS-supporting? A: IAM's commitment to the Amiga is clear -- DiskSalv3 has been upgraded through four freely redistributable patches during the last year (the current version being 12.19). The upgrade to support AFS will probably not be a freely redistributable patch. However, it is our intent to ensure that loyal customers of DS3 are well-treated, and that you will get a better a deal if you buy DS3 now and upgrade later than if you put off your DS3 purchase. Q: What about ReOrg? A: Yeah, we will take care of that one specifically, and a few other tools, too. We aren't ready to announce the details yet, so please don't ask, but we plan to make an announcement in the next month or two. Q: What's this about AFS Floppy? A: There is a floppy-only version of AFS. It is unlikely to be released as a stand-alone commercial product, but you may get it bundled with other products. For those of you with floppy-only systems, or those who want to try AFS on floppies, this is an excel lent bargain. MegaBall4, the new game from IAM, will include AFS Floppy as a free bonus disk! Q: Is there a demo? A: Yes, there is a demo version of AFS which can be installed to a very small partition to give you a sense for whether you want to buy the commercial product. The demo isn't always available in the same revision as the currently shipping AFS (right now it's demo 2.1, production 2.2), since obvious ly it is the lowest priority of the four versions. An older version demo was on a recent cover disk. IAM has no more information on where to get a demo at this time, but we'll put one on our FTP server when we get one. Q: Will AFS work with removable media like Zip and SyQuest drives? A: Yes. The Consumer version will work, too, as long as those drives are the only one AFS is on and the drives have less than 650mb capacity (which is the case for all current models). Fourth Level Development has special removable media support tools which they bundle with drives. These packages are not yet available in the States, but we are aware of the demand. Without that software, you have to do the same thing you would with FFS on removable media -- HDToolbox, etc. Q: How reliable is AFS? A: It's pretty darn reliable. Read the magazine reviews. September's CU/Amiga said "AFS doesn't invalidate disks. During the course of our tests we reset whilst writing files, powered down when the buffers were being flushed and pulled the SCSI cable out of the drives. This is just asking for trouble, but not once through all these heinous eye watering test could we corrupt the AFS partitions!" That should be good enough for most people, but here is a little more detailed and technical information... FLD says "AFS has been written to take advantage of the atomic theory of filsystem construction. This means that no data pointers are changed unless the validity of the data at which it is to be pointed has been checked as far as is practically possible. AFS has been written to take advantage of the basic physical features of all hard drives. In particular, the amount of time which is taken for capacitance levels to drop in the event of a power outage to the extent that data can be corrupted. Both the MaxTransfer and the DMA mask need to be properly set to ensure that the maximum integrety is obtained from the system. The AFS documentation includes detailed information on how to set them. For systems that follow these guides, FLD is aware of no instances of data loss with AFS since pre-release version 14.7. The system has been exhaustively tested by independent evaluators, none of whom have experienced data loss. Any bug reports made to FLD are carefully tracked and treated. In the event of memory corruption, the only known result has been the loss of data within individual files or directories which have been caused in consequence of programs corrupting memory. In the event of an attempt to corrupt the filesystem cache, AFS converts the filesystem to read-only, protecting your precious data. With pre-release/beta version 14.3, there existed known and documented limitations with the use of some software. Those limitations were fixed before the release of AFS, but unfortunately, someone who had been sent the beta version used some of the software on the list not to use, ran into problems, and posted that they had caused corruption on an AFS drive." As someone who gets a lot of calls from OFS/FFS users desperate for DiskSalv3, I KNOW what kind of data loss you can get from the standard OS filesystems. And how crippling invalidation can be. I can also say that nothing is completely safe, which is why everyone should make regular backups, regardless of the filesystem that they use.
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