Tool for fast tape access on HP Ultrium 230 (LTO)

[Nohez Poonawala]

We have been using dds2tar (on Linux) on HP DDS drives to backup, index & retrieve data.

Some info. on dds2tar:

dds2tar uses an index to find the files with record seek (a fast operation of DAT devices).
Files from a selected file archive can be extracted within one minute.

We want to use dds2tar on HP LTO drives. The main idea the software is build on is the usage of the fast SEEK scsi command of the DAT drives. If there is no fast SEEK, the software would not work as expected.

So is the "fast seek" scsi command available on HP LTO drives ?

Thank you.

[Dragan Krnic]

Yes. At least it works for me. LTO misses smk kind of file mark. Other things are compatible with DDS.

[Nohez Poonawala]

Thanks. But could you please tell me the Operating system. What is "smk file mark".
I checked Linux & Solaris "mt" man page. But this command does not exist. Is this for HP Unix ? We want to use dds2tar on Intel Linux + HP LTO. Our dealer has given us a LTO drive. Will get the media tomorrow.

I also found a document from IBM for IBM Ultrium drive. Document is called "IBM Ultrium Device Drivers: Programming Reference". Does anyone know where I could find a similar document for HP Ultrium drive. The document mentions of a STIOC_SET_POSITION command to set the physical position of the tape. I checked the dds2tar source code and traced a similar command for dds drives.

Hope dds2tar works for Intel + Linux + HP LTO.

Thanks.