Surestore DAT40x6 trouble on linux

[Ben Ransom]

I am unable to get reliable use of this tape drive (C5713A, Rev H910 ) on a PC running linux. I can always manipulate the loader via mtx commands, but can only rarely get tape functions to work with mt, dump, or tar commands. Example error: If I load a tape (LCD shows "Ready DDS4"), then a
restore -if /dev/nst0 results in:
restore: Tape read error on first record
...and
"No EODmark" on the LCD display.
I had previously used rdump to put data on the tape, and have sometimes been able to see it with restore and use of mt fsf to get to next dump. This true of any tape in the drive. Using a cleaning tape doesn't help. The same tape drive works fine in a Windows PC running NT, and conversely, the tape drive normally on the PC also shows the above failure symptoms on the linux box.

I've tried this with Redhat Linux 7.2 and 8.0, and kernels and drivers from 2.4.18 and 2.4.21, and also, with two different SCSI cards. DIP switches on the bottom of the drive are default for PC connection.

Any ideas welcome.
-Ben

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Ben,
I think you should start with this page http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Resource.jsp?locale=en_US&taskId=115&prodSeriesId=42910&prodTypeId=12169 but.... unfortunately nothing on the Linux!
Then look what I've found: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=lpg51060&locale=en_US&taskId=115&prodSeriesId=63916&prodTypeId=12169 - it has title 'HP SureStore Tape Drives - Backing Up in Linux' just what you want!
Eugeny

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Two more useful links
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/information_storage/support_doc/lpg50063.html
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/information_storage/support_doc/lpg51248.html
Eugeny

[Ben Ransom]

Eugeny,
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I am still stumped. The web links largely refer to building a linux kernel with SCSI and SCSI tape support, and that is done. The fact that this has worked a little (randomly), I thought I'd better double check on the SCSI cable as I was unsure I had done that and the web links refer to that as a common cause of trouble. But alas, no change. Also, I do happen to be using the scsi cards (HBA) recommended.

One other area I've not investigated much is use of initialization files and the stinit command. Wondering if that is a possibility. On the other hand, I have noted output from

mt -t /dev/nst0 status
SCSI 2 tape drive:
File number=0, block number=0, partition=0.
Tape block size 0 bytes. Density code 0x26 (DDS-4 or QIC-4GB).
Soft error count since last status=0
General status bits on (41010000):
BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN

This seems to be correct (altho I surely don't know what the status bits mean. As well, I have checked this when things were working, and there is no difference compared to when they are not working.
-Ben

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Try LTT for Linux - maybe it will tell you more? ITRC forum has a Linux section. Try to post your question there
Eugeny

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Try LTT for Linux - maybe it will tell you more?
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/ltt/index.html
ITRC forum has a Linux section. Try to post your question there
Eugeny