Help with AIX, stupid newbie tape question
Jim Santmyer
drive.
I would like to install all the latest y2k patches but before doing that
I would like to make a backup tape (just in case :) ). I am aware of
the mksysb command, but before using it I am trying to verify writing to
the tape drive using cpio.
I am trying to write to a tape with the following command:
find . -print|cpio -ov >/dev/rmt0
This command runs for a while before returning with the error:
cpio: 0511-038 Cannot write to the specified output.
cpio : The media surface is damaged.
Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?
I have tried several new tapes. I have verified that the IBM part number
of the tapes is correct for my tape drive (PN8191160). I have tried
deleting and reinstalling the tape drive. I have tried setting the block
size for the device from 0 (variable) to 1024. I have tried setting the
-C cpio parameter to a 2. I have searched IBM's web site and dejanews
for answers. All with no success.
So any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
Jim
--
Jim B. Santmyer Tactix ReEngineering, Inc.
ji...@tactix.com 9735 SW Sunshine Court
Voice: (503) 469-0324 Suite 800
FAX: (503) 469-9740 Beaverton, OR 97005 (USA)
peter_...@my-deja.com
You should be able to use 60M, 90M and 120M tapes in this drive, I use
SONY, HP and Maxell tapes. 60M does 1.3Gb, 90M 2Gb, 120M 4Gb
uncompressed; pick a size to suit your rootvg, continuation tapeas are
a bad idea. Don't forget to have all the filesystems in rootvg mounted
if you want them backed up by mksysb.
bs=1024 is good on this drive, it will be faster than bs=0, especially
*if* you have to restore that mksysb... ;-)
Just out of curiosity, try
find . -print | backup -ivqf /dev/rmt0
If this doesn't fail, you are in with a chance; by AIX 4.1 I think the
mksysb command uses AIX backup to save the rootvg contents.
good luck,
Pete
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Alexander Harth
>I would like to install all the latest y2k patches but before doing that
>I would like to make a backup tape (just in case :) ). I am aware of
>the mksysb command, but before using it I am trying to verify writing to
>the tape drive using cpio.
Thats a good idea.
>I have tried several new tapes. I have verified that the IBM part number
>of the tapes is correct for my tape drive (PN8191160). I have tried
>deleting and reinstalling the tape drive. I have tried setting the block
>size for the device from 0 (variable) to 1024. I have tried setting the
>-C cpio parameter to a 2. I have searched IBM's web site and dejanews
>for answers. All with no success.
Did you use a cleaning tape before you did this test?
Yours
Alexander
Jim Santmyer
>
>
> Did you use a cleaning tape before you did this test?
Yes, I have cleaned the drive twice, once before I started the test then again
after a few tests.
>
>
> Yours
> Alexander
Thanks
Jim Santmyer
>
> try using a cleaning tape.
Thanks, I have cleaned the drive twice.
>
>
> You should be able to use 60M, 90M and 120M tapes in this drive, I use
> SONY, HP and Maxell tapes. 60M does 1.3Gb, 90M 2Gb, 120M 4Gb
> uncompressed; pick a size to suit your rootvg, continuation tapeas are
> a bad idea. Don't forget to have all the filesystems in rootvg mounted
> if you want them backed up by mksysb.
I have tried both a 120M IBM tape and several new Maxell 90M tapes. These
tape work fine on my HP system.
>
>
> bs=1024 is good on this drive, it will be faster than bs=0, especially
> *if* you have to restore that mksysb... ;-)
>
> Just out of curiosity, try
>
> find . -print | backup -ivqf /dev/rmt0
I tried this command with a couple of new tapes, I received a similar error
as what cpio returned, the error is:
backup: 0511-447 An error occurred closing /dev/rmt0: The media surface
is damaged.
Thank you for your time.
Jim
Benjamin Gawert
>I tried this command with a couple of new tapes, I received a similar error
>as what cpio returned, the error is:
>
> backup: 0511-447 An error occurred closing /dev/rmt0: The media surface
>is damaged.
Looks like the heads are down. You have to replace the head drum...
Benjamin
Stimpy
unpack with:
cpio -iudvmcB '/filenames' </dev/rmt0.1
-= Wie met beide benen op de grond blijft staan, komt geen stap verder =-
Jim Santmyer
Thanks for the response.
I tried the command you suggested and received the error:
cpio: 0511-038 Cannot write to the specified output.
cpio : The media surface is damaged.
Since my last posting, I have installed a 7207-012 1/4 inch 1.2G cartrigde
tape drive and tried using the cpio command with it. I can read old cpio
tapes just fine, but when I try to write to a tape I get the same error,
"The media surface is damaged".
Could there be something wrong with the drive's configuration? The drives
are external dirves that are daisy chained off the external SCSI port. I
have verified that the SCSI IDs are correct and that they are terminated
properly. When installing, I have attached the device and booted, letting
the system find the drive and configure using the default configuration. Is
there something else I need to do to configure these drives?
Thanks
Jim Santmyer
Looks like the heads are down. You have to replace the head drum...Benjamin
I have installed a 7207-012 1/4 inch 1.2G tape drive. I receive the same error when trying to write to it. Could this be a configuration problem?
Benjamin Gawert
>Even though this is an old system, the tape drives have received very
little
>use, therefore I would be surprised if the hardware was bad.
We had much bad experiences with different DAT-drives (especially HP), so we
changed over to Exabyte...
Benjamin