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Here you can download the latest BETA version of Smart Filesystem.  There is also a history so you can see what has changed in the latest version of SFS.

Smart Filesystem is currently freeware.  Depending on how popular and how demanding the task of supporting the filesystem becomes we may change our minds on distribution later on.

Download Smart Filesystem (about 125 kB)

If you intend to use Smart Filesystem on your partitions then make sure you also use SFScheck reguraly (put it in your user-startup preferably).  This is a program to check the structure of your SFS disk.  It will report any errors it finds but won't make any modifications.  Read its docs and use it reguraly if you value your data!

Having problems getting Smart Filesystem to run?  Check the troubleshooting page.

Now also available: SFSsalv by Jörg Strohmayer. This is a tool which can be used to recover files from damaged SFS partitions.

Download SFSsalv (about 100 kB)

History

28 March 1999, changes for version 1.58:

  • The read-ahead cache should now be slightly faster on 68040 and 68060 systems by aligning the buffers to 16-byte boundaries.
  • Made some alterations to the structure of some SFS blocks to reduce CPU usage and to make the defragmenter easier to add in a new version.
  • The default name of the directory where the deleted files are stored is now '.recycled'.   It is now referred to as the Recycled directory in all the documentation.  Renaming the Recycled directory is of course still possible.
  • BUGFIX: Deleting Soft-links now works correctly.
  • SFS should now work under Kick 2.04.
  • BUGFIX: Truncating files using SetFileSize() could damage the file truncated under some conditions.
  • BUGFIX: Fixed a small problem with disk changes and DMS.
  • There is no seperate SCSI direct version of SFS anymore.  SCSI direct will be used automatically when no NSD 64-bit or TD64 support is found (SCSI direct users: please let me know if this works correctly for you).
  • BUGFIX: Moving a file from the Recycled directory to the same disk would not lower the file counter which keeps track of how many files are in the Recycled directory.  This can lead to files being removed from the Recycled directory too early.
  • The contents of the Recycled directory are not considered anymore when calculating the free space.
  • BUGFIX: Overwriting empty directories by a file with the same name is no longer allowed.
  • SFSformat now has an option to keep the Recycled directory visible if you wish.
  • Format will now no longer accept names with colons (':') or slashes ('/') in them.
  • Updated SFScheck and SetCache. The source of SFScheck is now also included in the archive.
  • SFS now refuses to mount partitions which are (partially) located beyond the 4 GB boundary if there is no NSD (64-bit), TD64 or SCSI direct available.
  • Added SFSquery, a tool which displays information about a SFS disk (cache size, number of buffers, cache hits, block size and so on).
  • Added limited support for removeable disks of different sizes (TD_GETGEOMETRY).
  • BUGFIX: SFS now generates an error if you try to rename a directory into one of its children.
  • Added ACTION_FLUSH and several SFS specific packets.
  • Using SetFileSize() twice in a row on an empty file sometimes resulted in a damaged file and loss of free space.  This problem is fixed now.
  • BUGFIX: There was a slight possibility that SFS reported that a valid disk was inserted, but did not yet tell Dos the name of the disk.

Note: This version is NOT compatible with the previous releases of SFS.   You'll need to reformat existing SFS partitions if you want to use the new features.  It is possible to use the new SFS and the older version at the same time.

9 November 1998, changes for version 1.13:

  • BUGFIX: When deleting a lot of files SFS could run out of buffers.  This was an internal buffer locking problem which caused SFS to think none of its buffers could be reused for new data.  Under normal conditions SFS  never runs out of buffers.

Note: This version is compatible with the previous releases of SFS starting from version 0.67.  There is no need to reformat existing SFS partitions.

7 November 1998, changes for version 1.12:

  • BUGFIX: Since version 1.10 (the Aminet release) SFS could use the wrong directory if their names had the same length and were located in the same directory block on disk.   Sorry for the inconvience!
  • BUGFIX: SFS could hang the system during booting under very specific circumstances. This might also fix booting problems with some harddisk controllers.

Note: This version is compatible with the previous releases of SFS starting from version 0.67.  There is no need to reformat existing SFS partitions.

3 November 1998, changes for version 1.10:

  • BUGFIX: Fixed a very rare problem with case-sensitive names where the filesystem could accidently use an object with the same name but with a different case.
  • BUGFIX: SFS now allows programs to create files in exclusively locked directories (like FFS does). Also fixed a bug in ACTION_CHANGE_MODE.
  • BUGFIX: An implicit delete (when overwriting a file for example) no longer causes a notification message to be sent. This should fix problems with IPrefs when ENV: was assigned to a SFS partition.
  • BUGFIX: There was a slight chance SFS could accidently return a soft-link if one was encountered while looking for another object.
  • Objects with the special Hidden bit set will now no longer appear in directory listings (the Recycled directory has Hidden bit set). The Hidden bit is not the same as the 'h' bit and cannot be changed for now.
  • Set version to 1.x to be compatible with ReOrg (ReOrg sometimes hangs the machine when there is a SFS filesystem which has a 0.x version).  SFS is still not finished however, so be careful!

Note: This version is compatible with the previous releases of SFS starting from version 0.67.  There is no need to reformat existing SFS partitions.

17 October 1998, changes for version 0.93:

  • NEW: Easy undeleting of files. When formatting a new SFS disk, a special directory (".recycled") will be created.  This directory will contain the last 25 files you've recently deleted (if there's enough free disk space).  See the Recycled directory for more information.
  • The number of free blocks is now stored in the root block. For backwards compatibility however the number of free blocks is still being calculated by reading the bitmap at mounting time as well. This will be removed in a future version. For old SFS partitions you'll get a requester the first time you use this new version of SFS, which informs you that this number isn't set correctly yet -- this is normal.
  • BUGFIX: The Copyback system still had some inconsistencies which could cause corrupt files under specific circumstances.  This system has been thoroughly checked and a number of problems where fixed.
  • BUGFIX: The Archive bit of some random file sometimes got cleared when deleting a file in the same directory.  Instead the Archive bit of the directory itself should have been cleared, but it never was.
  • BUGFIX: When the fileptr wasn't in the last fragment of a file and it was extended with SetFileSize() the file contents would be destroyed.
  • Sped up reading of small amounts of data (this improves the speed of buffered I/O).
  • NEW: Owner UserID and GroupID can now be set (ACTION_SET_OWNER).
  • Added lots of sanity checks and thoroughly checked a very large portion of all SFS code and fixed dozens of potential problems.

Note: This version is compatible with the previous releases of SFS starting from version 0.67.  There is no need to reformat existing SFS partitions.  You won't be able to use the new Recycled directory feature without reformatting however.

4 August 1998, changes for version 0.85:

  • Requesters which ask for a SFS disk to be inserted will now be retried automatically when a disk is actually inserted.
  • SFS now guarantees data is commited atleast every 20 seconds, even if the disk is being accessed continuously.
  • BUGFIX: The filesystem no longer gets confused when it thinks a disk is inserted twice. This fixes problems with omniscsi.device.
  • BUGFIX: Renaming a file to an empty name with the workbench now returns object name invalid instead of object not found.
  • BUGFIX: Creating a dir with the same name as a file no longer deletes the file.
  • BUGFIX: 100 character limit is now enforced, instead of allowing you to create names of any length.
  • Copyback mode added to internal caching system. This helps a lot to speed up small write operations. I also tweaked the cache system a bit for performance.

Note: This version is compatible with the previous releases of SFS starting from version 0.67. There is no need to reformat existing SFS partitions.

2 July 1998, changes for version 0.77:

  • BUGFIX: Creating files larger than 32 MB using SetFileSize() now works correctly. This fixes a problem with creating large file disks using Shapeshifter.
  • BUGFIX: Write protection status is now checked each time a disk is inserted, not just at startup.
  • BUGFIX: Reading directories has been made a bit more robust which will fix problems with some programs.
  • Error messages returned by SFS when there was an error accessing the device are improved.
  • Included SFScheck in the archive - this is a program to check the structure of your SFS disk. It will report any errors it finds but won't make any modifications. Read its docs and use it reguraly if you value your data!

Note: This version is compatible with the previous releases of SFS starting from version 0.67. There is no need to reformat existing SFS partitions.

14 June 1998, changes for version 0.71:

  • BUGFIX: It was possible to open a directory as a file using MODE_READWRITE.
  • NEW: Soft links are now supported. You need to specify a full path with Makelink when creating soft links. Hard links are not supported.
  • NEW: A new program, SFSformat, is now included in the archive. Using this format command you can quick format a SFS disk and specify if you want case sensitive file and directory names.

Note: This version is compatible with the 0.67 and the 0.68 versions. There is no need to reformat existing SFS partitions.

12 June 1998, changes for version 0.68:

  • BUGFIX: When using a Mask value which didn't end with a 'F' (like 0x7FFFFFFE for example) then SFS would sometimes damage the data it writes to a file. The problem occured for example when unpacking a LZX archive to a SFS disk.

Note: This version is compatible with the 0.67 version. There is no need to reformat existing SFS partitions.

1 June 1998, changes for version 0.67:

  • First BETA release.
 

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For comments, problems or questions regarding this page contact John Hendrikx.
Last updated: 28 maart 1999.