You can save files to and retrieve files from the hard drive just as you would a floppy disk. For instance, if you want to save a file created with your graphics program to the Pics drawer on Work:, you would enter:
in the program's Save requester. The generic path for accessing files on the hard disk is:
<partition>:<drawername>/<filename>
<Partition>: is the name assigned to the particular area of the hard disk, for example Work:. <Drawername> represents a directory on the partition, and <filename> is the name of the file you are creating or retrieving.
You can also save and retrieve files and directories on your hard disk by the normal Workbench methods.
Before adding new data to your hard drive, it is strongly suggested that you choose a hard disk backup program for copying the information stored on the hard disk to floppy disks. Amiga provides the hard disk backup program HDBackup. See the HDBackup chapter for more information. (Please see your local software dealer for information on the available commercial programs.)
You should back up the hard disk frequently - daily or weekly, depending on how often it is used. Without a backup, it will be impossible for you to replace any files that may be lost due to accidental deletion or disk failure.
Each time you back up your hard disk you should also run Verify Data on Drive from the HDToolBox program. This can locate blocks on the disk that may later develop problems.
When the verify function locates a block that may eventually become unreadable, it copies the information from that block onto a new block. This will be reported as a recoverable error. By marking a questionable block as bad and storing the information from that block to another location, you will avoid losing that information when the block becomes unreadable. In this case there is no need to reformat the hard disk and restore the file from the backup copy.
When the verify function locates a block that cannot be read, the system report it as bad block found. This is known as a non-recoverable error. The information stored on that block has been lost.
When either a recoverable or non-recoverable error is found, the system will display the location of the block. You must then choose one of three options:
You should normally add the block to the Bad Block List. After the verify is finished, click on Save Changes to Drive and then Exit. You will then reboot the system.
If the system reports a non-recoverable error, you should use the Workbench Format Disk function or the Shell FORMAT command to format the partition. Then restore your files from your backup disks.
