DDS2 tape drives and Debian

[jpg <jpg@hpcvsjpg.cv.hp.com>]

Hey gang,

No reply.  I guess I provided to much data ;)


So to Simplify:
Anyone ever use DDS2 tape drives?

Cheers,
-jpg

>>>>> On Mon, 20 Nov 2006, jpg == jpg@hpcvsjpg.cv.hp.com wrote:

  jpg> Subject: HP C1533A DDS2 tape drive
  jpg> From: jpg <jpg@hpcvsjpg.cv.hp.com>
  jpg> Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 14:16:27 -0800
  jpg> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org

  jpg> Has anyone ever got an HP c1533a to work with tar/cpio/mt on Debian etch?

  jpg> All attempts have failed with:

  jpg> tar: /dev/nst1: Warning: Cannot close: Input/output error
  jpg> cpio: error closing archive: Input/output error
  jpg> mt: error closing archive: Input/output error

  jpg> and worse, like eating tapes and tape drives. Have tried 3 different
  jpg> known good HP C1533A tape drives, 2 different cables and numerous tapes.

  jpg> Actually have trashed a few tapes and 1 tape drive. Tape drives
  jpg> go through numerous repositionings, rewinds. cpio is the worst of the
  jpg> lot, as it actually kills the tape drive, whereas tar and mt just
  jpg> wrap tape around the capstan.

  jpg> Have done numerous cleanings, so that's not it. Also these tapes and
  jpg> tape drives were taken from running HP-UX servers where they performed
  jpg> flawlessly.

  jpg> There must be a module specific to DDS tapes that I am missing to keep
  jpg> tape tension set or disable reposition after every bit written or 
  jpg> something like that. 

  jpg> Details:
  jpg> Kernel: 2.6.17.1
  jpg> Dist:  4.0 (etch)

  jpg> .config
  jpg> ========================================================================
  jpg> #
  jpg> # SCSI device support
  jpg> #
  jpg> CONFIG_RAID_ATTRS=y
  jpg> CONFIG_SCSI=y
  jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_PROC_FS=y

  jpg> #
  jpg> # SCSI support type (disk, tape, CD-ROM)
  jpg> #
  jpg> CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y
  jpg> CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST=y
  jpg> CONFIG_CHR_DEV_OSST=y
  jpg> CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=y
  jpg> CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SCH=y

  jpg> #
  jpg> # Some SCSI devices (e.g. CD jukebox) support multiple LUNs
  jpg> #
  jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN=y
  jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_CONSTANTS=y

  jpg> #
  jpg> # SCSI low-level drivers
  jpg> #
  jpg> CONFIG_ISCSI_TCP=y
  jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_AIC7XXX=y
  jpg> CONFIG_AIC7XXX_CMDS_PER_DEVICE=32
  jpg> CONFIG_AIC7XXX_RESET_DELAY_MS=15000
  jpg> CONFIG_AIC7XXX_DEBUG_MASK=0
  jpg> CONFIG_SCSI_ADVANSYS=y
  jpg> CONFIG_MEGARAID_SAS=y

  jpg> ========================================================================
  
  jpg> So has anyone ever crossed this bridge before?
 
  jpg> -jpg