Hi, Thanks for the answer, yes it is indeed second hand - even though they guaranteed what it is working. I've updated and I am still getting the same result, I will try cleaning it first... and fingers crossed.
Thanks, P. On Mon, Nov 18, 2019 at 2:02 PM Kenneth Gober <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Sun, Nov 17, 2019 at 6:00 PM Pietro Paolini > <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> On a x86-64 Dell, the tape drive is an HP StorageWorks Ultrium 960. >> >> XXXX# tar cf /dev/rst0 ./test.txt >> XXXX# mt -f /dev/nrst0 rewind >> XXXX# tar xf /dev/rst0 .out >> tar: Failed read on archive volume 1: Input/output error >> tar: Unable to recover from an archive read failure. >> tar: Sorry, unable to determine archive format. >> >> What can I do to diagnose the problem ? Using other utilities such as >> pax did not make any difference. > > > That model is an LTO3 tape drive, which at this point is very old. Did you > purchase > it used, by chance? It's possible that the hardware is simply defective. > I've bought > several used tape drives and while most of them worked fine, some did not. I > think > I had one that didn't work until I ran a cycle with a cleaning cartridge. > > It's also possible that your tapes are defective. I've bought tapes on eBay > where it > turned out that 2 out of 3 tapes in the box were bad. > > I use LTO2/4 drives routinely with dump/restore, and very occasionally with > tar, and > there is nothing special you have to do to make it work. SCSI and SAS drives > work > equally well (I have both). The only thing special about LTO is that you > have to match > the tape and drive. An LTO3 tape drive will read LTO1, LTO2 and LTO3 tapes, > but it > will not write LTO1 (only 2 and 3). > > So your diagnostic steps should include: > 1. run a cleaning cartridge cycle > 2. try a different tape (from a different batch or manufacturer) > 3. try another drive > > -ken
