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Re: tape at end

 
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Gerard McNeill
Advisor

tape at end

Hi i am getting the following when i attempt to copy onto a dat tape, the tape is blank and i only just put the tape in the dat drive. This is happening for all the tapes i put in the dat drive.

Any suggestions what is wrong or what maybe more to the point what i am doing wrong!?!

hrsm03:root> tar cf /dev/rmt/0m /ckp_jnl/crash/core.0
Tar: end of tape
Tar: to continue, enter device/file name when ready or null string to quit.

User entered a null name for next device file.
hrsm03:root>
Gerard
9 REPLIES 9
Ted Ellis_2
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: tape at end

try the following.... I am dropping the tape device part of the command, as you are using the default, so it is not needed

tar -cv /ckp_jnl/crash/core.0

also... I assume the /dev/rmt/0m is a good device for the drive? ioscan will confirm that

how large is the file you are trying to put on tape? The standard tar on HP-UX will not support large files (> 2 GB)

Ted
Gerard McNeill
Advisor

Re: tape at end

Thanks for the reply.

It seems the problem is not with the dat drive.

The attached file shows what i did on the box.

As you can see files can be copied to the device however certain large files can't.

Would anyone know the size limit of files that can be transferred to tape??
Gerard
harry d brown jr
Honored Contributor

Re: tape at end


When was the last time the drive was cleaned?

Have you tried a new tape?

What kind of tape are you using?

A dds2 tape should be used.

live free or die
harry
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Gerard McNeill
Advisor

Re: tape at end

Answers:

Tape was cleaned for two days

Don't know what type of tape the customer is using.

Gerard
harry d brown jr
Honored Contributor

Re: tape at end

Gerald,

a 22MB file is not large. Tar can easily handle files up to 2GB, but nothing larger.

Make sure the customer is using the proper tape drive by forcing the device name:

tar -cvf /dev/rmt/0m /ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.1.gz

Also have them do a

ls -l /dev/rmt

and make sure they have the proper device files in place and not regular files.

Also, make sure they are using a dds2 tape. A 90 meter tape should hold about 2GB.




live free or die
harry
Live Free or Die
Gerard McNeill
Advisor

Re: tape at end

Harry,

Thanks for that.

This is strange as they can put very small files onto the tape but not relatively large files.

They have cleaned the dat drive again and put in a dds2 120m tape.

Here is the details you wanted -

rw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x040000 Oct 30 12:32 0m
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x040080 Sep 30 1999 0mb
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x040040 Sep 20 2000 0mn
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x0400c0 Sep 30 1999 0mnb
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x040000 Oct 30 12:32 c4t0d0BEST
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x040080 Sep 30 1999 c4t0d0BESTb
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x040040 Sep 20 2000 c4t0d0BESTn
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x0400c0 Sep 30 1999 c4t0d0BESTnb
crw-r--r-- 1 bin bin 205 0xfffffe Sep 30 1999 stape_config

I am stuck!! - any ideas?
Gerard
harry d brown jr
Honored Contributor

Re: tape at end

Gerald,

THe device files look normal, though your cut&paste left the "c" off the first line which almost made me think "regular file", but it's ok.

Have them try this:

mt -f /dev/rmt/0m reqind
dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.1.gz of=/dev/rmt/0m

If it fails, replace the tape drive! If it works, try this:

mt -f /dev/rmt/0m reqind
dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.1.gz of=/dev/rmt/0mn
dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.2.gz of=/dev/rmt/0mn
dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.3.gz of=/dev/rmt/0mn
dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.4.gz of=/dev/rmt/0mn
dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.5.gz of=/dev/rmt/0mn
dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.6.gz of=/dev/rmt/0mn
dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/vmunix.gz of=/dev/rmt/0mn

if that works, then patch your system!

Remember that COMPRESSED files, when written to a device that attempts to compress them again will result in MORE tape being used than the size of the file. To view this behaviour, just gzip on of those gzipped files again and watch the resulting file be larger than the original.

live free or die
harry
Live Free or Die
Gerard_10
Occasional Advisor

Re: tape at end

Hi Harry,

As you can see the -f option is not known. This is HP 10.20.

hrsm03:root> mt -f /dev/rmt/0m reqind
mt: unknown command "-f"
hrsm03:root>

I performed the following command -

hrsm03:root> mt -t /dev/rmt/0m rew

Which was successful.

Then performed the command -

hrsm03:root> dd if=/ckp_jnl/crash/core.0/core.0.1.gz of=/dev/rmt/0m
I/O error
1601+0 records in
1600+1 records out
hrsm03:root>

As you can see this failed. What does this command do and should i replace the tape drive?

Your help on this issue is greatly appreciated!!

See attachment for commands performed.

Thanks!
harry d brown jr
Honored Contributor

Re: tape at end

Gerald,

I would have the tape drive replaced. There is no reason why that small file of 22MB couldn't be written to a tape sucessfully, unless the tape is bad, but I seriously suspect the tape drive.

I think with "stm" you can test a tape drive, but make sure you have a "scratch" tape.

live free or die
harry
Live Free or Die