How may times can dds tapes be used
Larry Nichoalds
is a new log record with documents the effort that the DDS drive expended
when either reading or writing the tape. The records can be accessed by
using the logtool utility and the data the contained in the record can
tell you the following:
Current number of groups written
Current RAW (Read after Write) retries
Current number of groups read
Current number of ECC3 retries
Whether the clean-me bit is on
The RAW count will give an indication as the how hard it was to put data
on the tape, while the ECC3 retries indicate the effort required to get the
data from the tape. High counts in either of these field would indicate
the potential need to replace the tape.
As mentioned by the other responses being conscientious about cleaning can
have signifcant returns, but if your interested in monitoring the
specific tape performances you can get the information from the log.
The log record is, by the way, recorded everytime a tape is closed.
Tony B. Shepherd
Larry Nichoalds <l...@CUP.HP.COM> wrote:
] Subject: Re: How may times can dds tapes be used
]
] It may be of value for you to know that with the 5.0 release of MPE there
] is a new log record with documents the effort that the DDS drive expended
] when either reading or writing the tape. The records can be accessed by
] using the logtool utility and the data the contained in the record can
] tell you the following:
] The log record is, by the way, recorded everytime a tape is closed.
Please pardon my ignorance, but is there some way to relate the tape to
the logfile record (volume serial number, etc)? Or are manual operator
logs needed to relate a logfile entry to a specific tape?
--
Regards -- Tony B. Shepherd -- t...@iii.net
Jeff Lindberg
> It may be of value for you to know that with the 5.0 release of MPE there
> is a new log record with documents the effort that the DDS drive expended
> when either reading or writing the tape. The records can be accessed by
> using the logtool utility and the data the contained in the record can
> tell you the following:
[snip]
This is very good to know! I wonder: since this information is being
logged at tape close time, would it be feasible to generate a console
message as well if excessive error/retry counts are noted?
Might make it easier/faster to spot a potentially bad tape that way.
Jeff Lindberg, Information Technology Coordinator
---
Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency (lind...@po-1.aea9.k12.ia.us)
729 21st Street Bettendorf, IA 52722
"After all is said and done, a heck of a lot more is said than done."