tape question

[navin]

why my tape drive is not being recgnized by linux workstation

it was working before - and was not in use as it was disconnected for some purpose - upon reconnect - the system is not recognizing -
dmesg | grep tape shows just the internal tape
pls advice
thanks

[Matti_Kurkela]

It's very difficult to answer such a question without knowing the make and model of the external tape drive, and the connection type.

External tape drive usually needs its own power cable, and has a power switch of its own. Is it plugged in? Is the power switch on?

If it's a SCSI tape drive, the SCSI cable connectors may have been damaged by careless handling. Check for bent pins.

Another possible reason would be a missing SCSI terminator, if your tape drive does not have working SCSI auto-termination.

MK