USB flash drives/Unicorn and HDdriver 10

[fujiyama]

I'm trying to set up a USB Unicorn (http://www.fairlite.co.uk/AtariKit/unicorn/unicorn.html) on the ACSI port of a Mega STe (TOS 2.06) for allowing file transfers between the Atari and my Mac using USB flash drives (USB stick, memory stick, USB drive, thumb drive or whatever people like to call it) but am unable to figure out how to make it useable on the Atari.

According to the Unicorn software it's detected while booting, but I'm unable to partition it in HDdriver (10.02). I've tried 3 different flash drives but with two of them, when selecting it from the "Available devices" then going to the "Medium"-"Partition" menu the Atari mouse-pointer changes to a "busy-bee" and never stops (I've waited several minutes), and with the last flash drive I get a "can't determine capacity" error message.

I've been told that the flash drives need to be USB 1.1 compatible but I have no idea how to check this. Would they be 1.1 compatible because they're detected in the boot process or could the partitioning problems be an indication they're not USB 1.1 compatible?
From previous postings here I recall I shouldn't format a flash drive (or memory card) but rather partition it in order to make it ready for use.

PS: I see there's a newer version (10.1) of HDdriver now, which I can download with my 10.x license it seems -could upgrading perhaps resolve my problem? I should probably give it a go.

[uweseimet]

Regarding the Unicorn I suggest that you contact the author, Alan Hourihane. He has developed the SCSI Driver for the Unicorn and also tested HDDRIVER and HDDRUTIL with it. HDDRUTIL accesses the USB hardware by calling the SCSI Driver for the Unicorn hardware. HDDRIVER and HDDRUTIL are not aware of any USB-specific behavior. This is all handled by the SCSI Driver for the respective hardware.
I'm afraid HDDRIVER 10.10 will not resolve your problem, but the free upgrade is recommended anyway.
Note that SCSI_MON, which can be downloaded on the HDDRIVER website, can help identifying problems with SCSI Driver implementations. Its usage requires expert knowledge about mass storage software protocols, though.

[fujiyama]

Before reading your reply I decided to give version 10.10 a try and it actually made a difference!
Now I'm able to partition without getting the "busy bee" mouse pointer instead.

All I need to figure out is what to choose in order to partition that 8GB flash drive for use with both TOS 2.06 and my Mac (MSDOS compatibility I guess). I believe you've told me how in the past, so I'll look for those older postings of mine here. I'll let you know how it goes.

I haven't tried SCSI_MON; maybe I should give it a go.

[uweseimet]

The fact that using HDDRIVER 10.10 instead of 10.02 makes a difference is very surprising and does not make sense to me. But anyway, it's good to hear that the latest version resolves your problem. Regarding partitioning there is no difference to partitioning any other drive/medium. The HDDRIVER manual has all the details.

[fujiyama]

Thanks. I'm just happy it works :-)
I've managed to partition it, but have kept it below 512 MB although I would like to utilize the USB flash drive better. I guess BigDOS is the additional software I need then, but that's another story which I haven't worked out yet. In any case 512 MB is a lot better than a floppy disk (even 1.44MB).
Thanks again!