Re: tlug: Not Linux but a UNIX hardware problem

["Andrew S. Howell" <andy@example.com>]

>>>>> "Dave" == Dave Gutteridge <dave@example.com> writes:

    Dave> Oh... and I also just had the brilliant idea to try using
    Dave> the dd command with a tape that I know works. (Usually to
    Dave> restore data we use tar xvf).  So with the tape that I
    Dave> succesfully restored data from, I got the exact same error
    Dave> messages, which gives me hope that the current problem is in
    Dave> the command and it still might be possible to weasle some
    Dave> data off this *^&$*^%@% DAT.

Dave,

	This is good. Try a different block size. Different "dump"
program use different sizes. With a known good dump, does 

mt -f /dev/nrtape status

tell you anything?

    Dave> How do I go about cleaning the thing? Should I go in there
    Dave> with a q-tip and some cleaning fluid, or should I get a
    Dave> special DAT cleaner of some sort?  

I would go the DAT cleaning tape route. Q-Tip should work as well, but 
there is more opportunity to mess up the drive.

The dump man page may have more info on block sizes.

<aside>
Note that, though you can use dd to get the dump off the tape, you
have to use the same matching "restore" to read it.

I use Amanda http://www.amanda.org for our dumps. Each machine dumps
across the net my backup server, which writes it disk, and finally to
tape. The point of this little aside is that that in doing the
restore, I have to use corresponding restore.
</aside> 

Regards,

	Andy
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