tar error

[SSP_1]

Hi ,

Just came across a stange error of "tar: en dof tape ; tar: to continue enter device file name to continue".

This error I am getting just I starts a backup and also this is the 3rd media I am trying on. The media I am using is of 12 GB whereas data to backed up is just of 2 gb .

what may be the cause of it?

[Tracey]

Are you overwriting what is on the tape, or are you just appending your data on the end (-r I beleive)?

[Darrell Allen]

Hi,

Silly question but did you rewind the tapes first?

Are the tapes new or re-used? At times my used tapes need to have mediainit run on them again (mediainit /dev/rmt/#m).

Darrell

[SSP_1]

Hi,

Yes I have tried with "rewind" and "mediainit" but still the same error.

confused?"?//??/?

[John Bolene]

Is the tape compatible with the tape drive?

You cannot use a DDS2 tape in a DDS1 device.

Also hate to gripe, but...

This member has assigned points to 12 of 89 responses to his/her questions.

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Shripad,

Try replacing the drive. Seems like the drive is defective.

Hope this helps.

Regds

[Darrell Allen]

Has this problem just started to happen?

Are you specifying a target (destination) file or are you taking the default /dev/rmt/0m?

Try to create a small tar file on the tape, ie: tar cvf /dev/rmt/#m /etc/profile

Any errors in syslog.log?

You may need hardware support.

Darrell

[Wodisch]

Hello Shripad,

could it be you are trying to backup so-called "sparse files"?
Those need less space on the file-system than their "ls -l" size would make you expect. Use "ls -s" instead, this will show the *real* size (in 512byte blocks, though).

In that case, try using GNU-tar, IIRC it has an option to backup sparse-files...

HTH,
Wodisch