topic Re: cannot write to dds3 tape in Operating System - HP-UX

cannot write to dds3 tape

Danny Ramos_1 — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 03:32:18 GMT

hi guys,

I have an HP K250 running hp-ux, prior to this problem, i have been performing a succesful backup using a backup script, until i encountered an i/o error (error 5 to be exact).

here' the exact error:
"Please mount tape and press Return to continue
> ...Error writing to tape device, Error No. = 5"

I tried to use tar using the dds3 (sony) cartridge which ends up on making the tape drive dirty and issued the same error. I cleaned the tape drive and used an HP dds2 cartridge this time and "tar" worked! When i made use of the backup script that we've been using for a long time, using an HP dds1 and other tape cartridges another i/o error (error 28)was encountered!

What could possibly caused the error? would it be the tape? tape drive? or something went wrong from the backup script? or something else?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

regards,
danny

Re: cannot write to dds3 tape

Michael Tully — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 03:59:08 GMT

Hi,

If your using a DDS3 tape drive you should be using 125 meter tapes. If your attempting to use anything else less than a 120 metre tape problems could occur. Stick to either 120 or 125 meter tapes for this drive unit.

'tar' is not supported above 2Gb as well.

Re: cannot write to dds3 tape

Danny Ramos_1 — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 04:29:05 GMT

hi michael,

thank you. this could possibly true when i tried to use hp dds1 (90m) cartridge, but how come if im using a sony dds3 cartridge an error has been encountered. would that mean i have to stick on using hp dds2 (120 m) cartridge or an HP dds3 since using such cartridge a test backup using tar could work?

danny

Re: cannot write to dds3 tape

Hartmut Lang — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 04:53:14 GMT

Danny,

make a test with a dds3 tape from a different vendor (HP, Fuji, ...). I had problems like you have, but only with tapes from a specific vendor.
Using other tapes the problem was gone.

Let me know if this helps in your case.

Hartmut

Re: cannot write to dds3 tape

Danny Ramos_1 — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 05:13:42 GMT

guys,

thanks...i guess that would probably be it...since using hp dds2 works..the problem could be on the SONY DDS3 cartridge....

cheers.

Re: cannot write to dds3 tape

Danny Ramos_1 — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 07:10:44 GMT

one last question guys,

how come i've been using sony dds3 cartridge working for a long time, but now all of a sudden its giving an error....would there be something wrong on my system?

thanks

Re: cannot write to dds3 tape

Bernhard Mueller — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 07:58:56 GMT

Danny,

"tape cleaning required" often indicates a bad tape;

if you reused that same sony cartridge and the tape requires cleaning, though you had used a cleaning tape immediately before it is that cartridge that has a problem.

Did you try using a NEW sony cartridge?

Regards
Bernhard

Re: cannot write to dds3 tape

Danny Ramos_1 — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 08:32:16 GMT

yup, actually new sony cartridge resulted to the same error

Re: cannot write to dds3 tape

Pete Randall — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 09:23:07 GMT

This could also be an indication of a hardware problem. Try HP support and see what they think.

Pete