1748019 Members
4404 Online
108757 Solutions
New Discussion юеВ

SDLT Tape problems

 
SOLVED
Go to solution
Ludwig Zammit
Occasional Contributor

SDLT Tape problems

We have recently added a 2nd SDLT drive to our MSL5026 library. The new drive is a 160/320 while the old one is a 110/220. We use Brightstor ARCserve 2000 as our backups platform.

Our problem is that if we use a tape in the 160/320 drive we cannot use it in the 110/220. This problem occurs even if we just erase the tape in the SDLT160, then it is shown as unreadable in the SDLT110. We cannot format it or erase it in the SDLT110.

Has anyone encountered this problem?
5 REPLIES 5
Vincent Farrugia
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: SDLT Tape problems

Hello,

Unfortunately, this is by design of SDLT drives. If a tape was formatted by a SDLT 320 drive, then it is incompatible with a SDLT 220 drive.

Vice-versa is not true though. If a tape was formatted by a SDLT 220 drive, it can still be read AND written by a SDLT 320 drive.

See page 13 of the following document:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00258430/c00258430.pdf

HTH,
Vince
Tape Drives RULE!!!
Curtis Ballard
Honored Contributor

Re: SDLT Tape problems

All tape initialization/format type operations must be done with the 110/220 drive. Erase, first write on new tape, etc - use the 110/220 to perform those operations and you shouldn't have any problems using the tapes in both drives.
P.J. Schoenmaker
New Member

Re: SDLT Tape problems

Hello,

A cdrom containing a very easy tool is included with your SDLT drive.
It's called Set density.
It's java based and it's available for different platforms.

Greetz,

Perry
P.J. Schoenmaker
New Member

Re: SDLT Tape problems

Ehmm,

Some more info on this tool is in order i think.
With Set density it's possible to change the density of a tape in a drive.
When you want to use/format/label/read/write a 110/220 tape in a 160/320 drive while still being able to use it in a 110/220 drive, use Set density to change the density off that tape.

Greetings,

Perry
P.J. Schoenmaker
New Member

Re: SDLT Tape problems

Ehmm,

The tool for changing compression rates on sdlt tapes is called Density Select.
I don't know how i came up with set density, but ok.

Greetings,

Perry