troubleshooting tape

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As for the blank page:
Getting the Best Performance From ATAPI Travan Tape Drives
Difficulty 1 - Simple Comand Line Commands Required
When using the ATAPI Travan mechanisms wth Linux, it is best to disable
the IDE-TAPE drive and use the IDE-SCSI emulation layer. With modern
Linux kernels, this is accomplished by:=20

        rmmod ide-tape
        insmod scsi_mod
        insmod ide-scsi
        insmod st
       =20
       =20
        or if you are using the OnStream DI30 or DI30Fast, replace the
        insmod st with insmod osst.
       =20
       =20
Now, instead of accessing the device using the /dev/ht0 or /dev/nht0
devices, you would use the /dev/st0 or /dev/nst0 devices (/dev/osst0 and
/dev/nosst0 for the OnStream DI30).

Also, using an appropriate kernel is important for I/O success. We
strongly recommend 2.2.19, 2.4.9-34 or 2.4.10 for best tape I/O
performance.

In addition to the software side of the puzzle, Travan (and other
QIC-based technologies) require retensioning of the actual media on a
regular basis for best performance. Use the mt command to retension your
media before every backup or restore attempt:

        mt -f /dev/nst0 reten
This will keep the tape in top shape and provide the most reliable
operation.

On Sun, 2003-11-09 at 22:51, Bob Holtzman wrote:
> On Sun, 9 Nov 2003, der.hans wrote:
>=20
> > Am 08. Nov, 2003 schw=E4tzte Bob Holtzman so:
> >=20
> > > [root@localhost /]# tar cvf /home /dev/ht0
> > > tar: /home: Cannot open: Is a directory
> >=20
> > This is still backwards.
>=20
> I can't believe I did that again.=20
>=20
> >=20
> > tar cvf /dev/ht0 /home
>=20
> When I tried it the right way I got:
>=20
> [root@localhost /]# tar cvf /dev/ht0 /home
> tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
> home/
> home/lost+found/
> home/holtzm/
> home/holtzm/.kde/ =20
> home/holtzm/.kde/Autostart/
> home/holtzm/.kde/Autostart/Autorun.desktop
> home/holtzm/.kde/Autostart/.directory
> home/holtzm/.kde/share/
> home/holtzm/.kde/share/config/
> home/holtzm/.kde/share/config/session/ =20
> home/holtzm/.kde/share/config/session/konqueror_117f000001000105410299000=
000011010027
> home/holtzm/.kde/share/config/kwinrc
> home/holtzm/.kde/share/config/kconf_updaterc
> tar: /dev/ht0: Wrote only 0 of 10240 bytes
> tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
>=20
> >=20
> > You're first post had the order correct, but /root/home doesn't exist a=
nd
> > you wanted /home.
> >=20
> > > [root@localhost holtzm]# mt -f /dev/ht0 status
> > > SCSI 2 tape drive:
> > > File number=3D0, block number=3D0, partition=3D0.
> > > Tape block size 22790 bytes. Density code 0x0 (default).
> > > Soft error count since last status=3D0
> > > General status bits on (0):
> >=20
> > Normally you get some stuff on the last line all in CAPS.
>=20
> What I pasted is all I got.=20
>=20
> >=20
> > Look at www.LinuxTapeCert.org for more help on using tapes with Linux.
> >=20
> > http://www.linuxtapecert.org/ATAPI.html
> >=20
>=20
> This link gave me a blank screen whether I accessed it directly or thru =20
> www.LinuxTapeCert.org. I'll try tomorrow and if no luck I'll try to=20
> contact the web master.
>=20
> > I believe that will allow you to access the tape as a SCSI device at
> > /dev/nst0 and /dev/st0. That's a much better way of going right now.
> >=20
>=20
> The only reason I stuck with ATAPI is that my last 2 drives, hp 5 and 20=20
> Gb, have worked flawlessly.=20
>=20
> > BTW, if you just bought this and can still take it back please do. Look=
at
> > the OnStream drives instead. Similar costs ( a little less expensive fo=
r
> > equivalent drives ), but more reliable. I also suggest sporting the ext=
ra $$
> > to go SCSI.
>=20
> I may wind up doing that. Thanks to all that replied.
--=20
Bryce C <Plug@BryceCo.Net>
CoBryce Communications

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