Topic: To anyone using a Seagate STT20000A on SME 5.6 : HELP !

[DarkskyZ]

Hi all,

I am struggling with the Seagate TRAVAN I installed in my SME. It worked perfectly on another computer through WinXP but now on SME when auto backup finishes at night when I type flexbackup -toc to check if anything is right I get the following answer :

> |------------------------------------------------
> | Trying "mt defblksize" instead of "mt setblk"
> | ERROR: This tape doesn't have an index! (use -erase?)
> |------------------------------------------------

In backup logs I get no error message :

> flexbackup version 0.9.8
> /etc/flexbackup.conf syntax OK
>
> |------------------------------------------------
> | Trying "mt defblksize" instead of "mt setblk"
> | Doing level 0 backup of /dev/md1 using dump
> | ERROR: This tape doesn't have an index! (use -erase?)
> | Making sure tape is at end of data...
> /dev/nst0: Input/output error
> |------------------------------------------------
> At block 65.
> |------------------------------------------------
> | Backup of: /dev/md1
> | Date of this level 0 backup: Sun Oct 12 02:11:05 2003
> | Date of last level 0 backup: the epoch
> |------------------------------------------------
> | (dump -0 -b 10 -a -f - /dev/md1 | gzip -4) | buffer -m 3m -s 10k -u 100 -t \
> |  -p 75 -B -o /dev/nst0
> |------------------------------------------------
>   DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Sun Oct 12 02:11:05 2003
>   DUMP: Dumping /dev/md1 (/) to standard output
>   DUMP: Added inode 8 to exclude list (journal inode)
>   DUMP: Added inode 7 to exclude list (resize inode)
>   DUMP: Label: /
>   DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
>   DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
>   DUMP: estimated 2039415 tape blocks.
>   DUMP: Volume 1 started with block 1 at: Sun Oct 12 02:11:20 2003
>   DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
>   DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
>   DUMP: 9.66% done at 656 kB/s, finished in 0:46
>   DUMP: 21.52% done at 731 kB/s, finished in 0:36
>   DUMP: 32.71% done at 741 kB/s, finished in 0:30
>   DUMP: 45.13% done at 766 kB/s, finished in 0:24
>   DUMP: 56.28% done at 764 kB/s, finished in 0:19
>   DUMP: 67.85% done at 768 kB/s, finished in 0:14
>   DUMP: 74.90% done at 727 kB/s, finished in 0:11
>   DUMP: 85.63% done at 727 kB/s, finished in 0:06
>   DUMP: 99.79% done at 753 kB/s, finished in 0:00
>   DUMP: Volume 1 completed at: Sun Oct 12 02:56:35 2003
>   DUMP: Volume 1 2079690 tape blocks (2030.95MB)
>   DUMP: Volume 1 took 0:45:15
>   DUMP: Volume 1 transfer rate: 766 kB/s
>   DUMP: 2079690 tape blocks (2030.95MB)
>   DUMP: finished in 2715 seconds, throughput 766 kBytes/sec
>   DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Sun Oct 12 02:11:05 2003
>   DUMP: Date this dump completed:  Sun Oct 12 02:56:35 2003
>   DUMP: Average transfer rate: 766 kB/s
>   DUMP: DUMP IS DONE
> Kilobytes Out 1222510
> |------------------------------------------------
> | Backup start: Sun Oct 12 02:11:05 2003
> | Backup end:   Sun Oct 12 02:56:42 2003
> |------------------------------------------------
> At block 2445086.
> |------------------------------------------------
> | Rewinding...
> | Compressing log (dev-md1.0.20031012.gz)
> | Linking dev-md1.latest.gz -> dev-md1.0.20031012.gz
> |------------------------------------------------

So what's up ?

Hown do you use your STT20000A ? Which back-up software ?

Thanks in advance for your help as I won't forgive myself if my server would break down without having it backed-up...

DarkskyZ

[John Lewis]

I use one, and used to have lots of issues with the drive.  Turned out my tapes were bad.  So... firstly, try another tape and see what happens.

Secondly, search these forums, there are a bunch of posts about troubleshooting this drive.

Thirdly, try Darrell May's flexbackup rpm, you can find it at www.myezserver.com under support.  This gives you some more features to try...

[DarkskyZ]

Thanks John for your answer.
I have read many threads about this drive but no real "solution inside", Concerning the tape, the one that lead to the error is new and works on the other computer using the same drive so I have no clue.
I yet installed Darrel May's rpm but I will dig it up.
I'll try it all out some more next week-end.

Any experience or idea is still welcome though...

DarkskyZ

[Kelvin]

Hi DarkshyZ,

You might want to give Shad Lord's Arkeia contrib a try as well, as an alternative to flexbackup.

Personally, I don't trust Travans at all. But since that is what you have to work with, perhaps switching to a better backup program might help.

Another alternative software is Tapeware (but is commercial). Tapeware can also do a verify after backup (which neither flexbackup nor Arkeia does). This is important for drives that do not have read after write capabilities.

Kelvin

[DarkskyZ]

Hi Kelvin,

I am not sure Arkeia can cope with IDE drives but I will give it a try.
I do also have a Tapeware original CD (V6.2 sp3C) but I don't have a clue how to use it on SME....

DarkskyZ

[DarkskyZ]

So I switched to Arkeia and it seems to work. I managed to backup my whole system (excepting a garbagefull drive...) but my first attempt to restore a single file was unsuccessfull. I'll dig it out !

DarkskyZ