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DDS2 tape drives and Debian

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Hey gang,

No reply. I guess I provided to much data ;)

So to Simplify:
Anyone ever use DDS2 tape drives?

Cheers,
-jpg

>>>>> On Mon, 20 Nov 2006, jpg == wrote:

jpg> Subject: HP C1533A DDS2 tape drive
jpg> From: jpg
jpg> Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 14:16:27 -0800
jpg> To:

jpg> Has anyone ever got an HP c1533a to work with tar/cpio/mt on Debian etch?

jpg> All attempts have failed with:

jpg> tar: /dev/nst1: Warning: Cannot close: Input/output error
jpg> cpio: error closing archive: Input/output error
jpg> mt: error closing archive: Input/output error

jpg> and worse, like eating tapes and tape drives. Have tried 3 different
jpg> known good HP C1533A tape drives, 2 different cables and numerous tapes.

jpg> Actually have trashed a few tapes and 1 tape drive. Tape drives
jpg> go through numerous repositionings, rewinds. cpio is the worst of the
jpg> lot, as it actually kills the tape drive, whereas tar and mt just
jpg> wrap tape around the capstan.

jpg> Have done numerous cleanings, so that's not it. Also these tapes and
jpg> tape drives were taken from running HP-UX servers where they performed
jpg> flawlessly.

jpg> There must be a module specific to DDS tapes that I am missing to keep
jpg> tape tension set or disable reposition after every bit written or
jpg> something like that.

jpg> Details:
jpg> Kernel: 2.6.17.1
jpg> Dist: 4.0 (etch)

jpg> .config
jpg> ========================================================================
jpg> #
jpg> # SCSI device support
jpg> #
jpg> CONFIG_RAID_ATTRS=y
jpg> CONFIG_SCSI=y
jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_PROC_FS=y

jpg> #
jpg> # SCSI support type (disk, tape, CD-ROM)
jpg> #
jpg> CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y
jpg> CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST=y
jpg> CONFIG_CHR_DEV_OSST=y
jpg> CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=y
jpg> CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SCH=y

jpg> #
jpg> # Some SCSI devices (e.g. CD jukebox) support multiple LUNs
jpg> #
jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN=y
jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_CONSTANTS=y

jpg> #
jpg> # SCSI low-level drivers
jpg> #
jpg> CONFIG_ISCSI_TCP=y
jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_AIC7XXX=y
jpg> CONFIG_AIC7XXX_CMDS_PER_DEVICE=32
jpg> CONFIG_AIC7XXX_RESET_DELAY_MS=15000
jpg> CONFIG_AIC7XXX_DEBUG_MASK=0
jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_ADVANSYS=y
jpg> CONFIG_MEGARAID_SAS=y

jpg> ========================================================================

jpg> So has anyone ever crossed this bridge before?

jpg> -jpg

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DDS2 tape drives and Debian

Submitted by Douglas Tutty on Fri, 2006-12-01 16:00.

On Fri, Dec 01, 2006 at 11:14:39AM -0800, jpg wrote:
> Hey gang,
>
> No reply. I guess I provided to much data ;)
>
>
> So to Simplify:
> Anyone ever use DDS2 tape drives?
>

No.

I've looked at what to use for backup and have found that a mobile hard
drive (2.5") in a ruggedized enclosure (especially the addonics Jupiter
ExDrive) provides better physical security at higher data density at
lower cost than a tape drive.

I'm using the 2.5" drive because the storage media has to fit in the
bank's safety deposit box with max width of 5".

Good luck with the DDS2.

Doug.

--

»

DDS2 tape drives and Debian

Submitted by Andrew Perrin on Fri, 2006-12-01 16:00.

Sorry to join the thread late - I use DDS3 tapes here. Can I be helpful?

Andy

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew J Perrin - andrew_perrin (at) unc.edu - http://perrin.socsci.unc.edu
Assistant Professor of Sociology; Book Review Editor, _Social Forces_
University of North Carolina - CB#3210, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3210 USA
New Book: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/178592.ctl

--

»

DDS2 tape drives and Debian

Submitted by Raquel on Fri, 2006-12-01 17:00.

On Fri, 1 Dec 2006 15:47:10 -0500 (EST)
Andrew Perrin wrote:

> Sorry to join the thread late - I use DDS3 tapes here. Can I be
> helpful?
>
> Andy
>
>

I use an HP SureStore DAT8 -- DDS4 tapes. Can I help?

--
Raquel
============================================================
I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the
death, your right to say it.
--Voltaire

--

»

DDS2 tape drives and Debian

Submitted by jpg on Fri, 2006-12-01 22:00.

>
> On Fri, 1 Dec 2006 15:47:10 -0500 (EST)
> Andrew Perrin wrote:
>
> > Sorry to join the thread late - I use DDS3 tapes here. Can I be
> > helpful?
> >
> > Andy
> >
> >
>
> I use an HP SureStore DAT8 -- DDS4 tapes. Can I help?
>
> --
> Raquel

Hello Andy and Raquel,

Having problems getting any stand-alone HP C1533A SCSI DAT/DDS
tape drives to work with Debian.

The tapes, tape drives and SCSI cables are all known good, as they
were recently retired from working HP-UX systems.

To date, have destroyed 3 tape drives and 10 tapes trying to get any
tape media command to talk to them; i.e.

tar, cpio, mt, btape, dd

All fail, see original post for gory details. The end result is to
wrap the tape around the capstan to a degree as to destroy the tape
and eventually destroy the tape handling mechanisms of the tape drive
itself.

I actually opened the cover of the mechanism to watch what was going
on on one of the tape drives. It appears the tape tensioning
sub-routines are not being called correctly.

I say this because, the tape is loaded fine and the tensioners
correctly pick up the tape from the cartridge, wrap it around the
helical scan head; all OK. But during tape movement or eject, the
tape tensioners relax and the tape is so loose as to cause it to wrap
up on any moving part, like the capstan and helical scan head. When
lucky, and no tape wrap-up occurs, the other problem is that since
the tape is not tight around the head, no data is successfully read
or written. I/O error is the result.

As indicated I have cleaned the tape drives, changed cables, changed tapes
changed drives all yield the same results.

My guess here is that something changed in etch, in the SCSI tape routines
so as to cause this; only a guess.

Curious part here though is I have a HP SureStore 12000e autochanger
connected to the same SCSI bus. The 12000e also uses a DDS2 tape
mechanism. The 12000e has worked flawlessly through the years as my
Bacula library. My idea for the C1533A was for tar, cpio, or
overwriting Bacula tape labels when it's time to recycle tapes.

Since the 12000e is a 6 tape library with a autochanger robot, it has
its own device file for the autochanger robot, whereas the C1533A does
not.

The only saving grace here is that the C1533A tape drives and DDS2
tapes are no longer being used in production, therefore they would
have gone to the scrap heap if I hadn't snagged them.

Never thought it would be this hard to write a tar file to a SCSI
tape drive. Been using K3B and dvd's until I can get this figured out.

Help if you can,
-jpg

--

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