Topic: Anyone know what this tape error...

[N Price]

Anyone know what these tape errors mean?

/var/log/flexbackup/all.0.20030131
  DUMP: 2.33% done, finished in 3:29
buffer (writer): write of data failed: Input/output error
bytes to write=10240, bytes written=-1, total written     158750K
  DUMP: Broken pipe
  DUMP: The ENTIRE dump is aborted.

dmesg
st0: Error with sense data: Info fld=0x1, Current st09:00: sense key Medium Error
Additional sense indicates Write append error
st0: Error with sense data: Info fld=0x1, Current st09:00: sense key Medium Error
Additional sense indicates Write append error
st0: Error on write filemark.


We have checked hardware mulitple times but are still stumped.  Small backups succeed but large ones fail usually early on.  Any thoughts much appreciated.

-N

[Graeme Fleming]

The messages seem to indicate that Linux can no longer access the tape device properly and timeouts.

Looks like it could be a faulty tape.  I presume you have tried a new tape??

The sense key Medium Error also points to a faulty tape (Medium==Tape).  Try doing a full format/verify on the tape (takes a long time usually).

I could be a faulty driver (far less likely) with a buffer problem.

HTH

[N Price]

Thanks, I was thinking it might be tape issue.  I have tried a few different tapes but the condition of them is unknown.  I will try a brand new tape tomorrow.  

Thanks again.

-N

[Ray Mitchell]

Just a thought, have you cleaned the tape drive heads ?

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[N Price]

The drive is brand new has never worked so the heads have not been cleaned.  

It appears that there is an issue with this Sony SDX-300C drive and buffer.  Flexbackup for e-smith uses dump and outputs it through buffer.  If I manually run dump and out directly to the tape it succeeds.  Also Tapeware works fine.  So it looks like a software-hardware compatibility problem.

Thanks all for the input.

-Nathan

[tim heinzen]

I'm doing some testing but I seem to get the error in V5.6 with my seagate IDE 10/20 GB travan when backing up larger amounts of data (small backups work).  The same server and tape hardware backup just fine in V5.5.