Sorry if this is a little off-topic.

I've got two questions:
1. what should I do if there is an error during amdump/amverify for a
particular disk? how do I tell amanda that a particular dump is
unusable?
2. do the errors I describe below sound like a drive problem, tape
problem, config problem, user problem?

Read on for the gory details.

I've been using amanda for a couple years now without any problems.
But for the past couple months I've been seeing occasional errors
during amverify on a Seagate (aka Certance, aka Quantum) Travan
20/40GB drive. I have some tapes that are two years old and some that
are only a couple months old. The failures occur randomly, sometimes
on new tapes, sometimes on old ones.

The errors are always on the last file of the tape. After the amdump
completes, my dump script does an amverify. A sample output is:
*SNIP*
Checked stokes.dmurray.int._opt_murray_pics_2004_07.20070114.0
Checked stokes.dmurray.int._opt_murray_pics_fairyTalePhotography.20070114.0
** Error detected (stokes.dmurray.int._opt_murray_pics_2004_08.20070114.0)
amrestore: WARNING: not at start of tape, file numbers will be offset
amrestore:   0: restoring stokes.dmurray.int._opt_murray_pics_2004_08.20070114.0
amrestore: read error: Input/output error
/bin/gtar: Unexpected EOF in archive
/bin/gtar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
64+0 in
64+0 out
** Error detected ()
amrestore: error reading file header: Input/output error
** No header
0+0 in
0+0 out
** Error detected ()
amrestore: error reading file header: Input/output error
** No header
0+0 in
0+0 out
** Error detected ()
amrestore: error reading file header: Input/output error
** No header
0+0 in
0+0 out
** Error detected ()
amrestore: error reading file header: Input/output error
** No header
0+0 in
0+0 out
** Error detected ()
amrestore: error reading file header: Input/output error
** No header
0+0 in
0+0 out
Too many errors.


I haven't upgraded the clients nor the server in a long time. Once I
started seeing these errors, I did a little googling. I saw a
suggestion that travan tapes need a 'mt -f <device> reten' before each
run, so I added that to my nightly dump script. This didn't help.

Anyone have some suggestions for me?

On the tape host:
build: VERSION="Amanda-2.4.4p4"
      BUILT_DATE="Sun Oct 16 13:20:57 MDT 2005"
      BUILT_MACH="Linux navier 2.4.22-1.2199.nptlsmp #1 SMP Wed Aug 4 11:48:29
EDT 2004 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux"
      CC="gcc"
      CONFIGURE_COMMAND="'./configure' '--host=i686-pc-linux-gnu' '--build=i686
-pc-linux-gnu' '--target=i586-redhat-linux-gnu' '--program-prefix=' '--prefix=/u
sr' '--exec-prefix=/usr' '--bindir=/usr/bin' '--sbindir=/usr/sbin' '--sysconfdir
=/etc' '--datadir=/usr/share' '--includedir=/usr/include' '--libdir=/usr/lib' '-
-libexecdir=/usr/lib/amanda' '--localstatedir=/var/lib' '--sharedstatedir=/usr/c
om' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--infodir=/usr/share/info' '--enable-shared' '--w
ith-index-server=localhost' '--with-gnutar-listdir=/var/lib/amanda/gnutar-lists'
'--with-smbclient=/usr/bin/smbclient' '--with-amandahosts' '--with-user=amanda'
'--with-group=disk' '--without-debug' '--with-udpportrange=875,900' '--with-tcp
portrange=50000,50040'"
paths: bindir="/usr/bin" sbindir="/usr/sbin"
      libexecdir="/usr/lib/amanda" mandir="/usr/share/man"
      AMANDA_TMPDIR="/tmp/amanda" AMANDA_DBGDIR="/tmp/amanda"
      CONFIG_DIR="/etc/amanda" DEV_PREFIX="/dev/"
      RDEV_PREFIX="/dev/" DUMP="/sbin/dump"
      RESTORE="/sbin/restore" VDUMP=UNDEF VRESTORE=UNDEF
      XFSDUMP=UNDEF XFSRESTORE=UNDEF VXDUMP=UNDEF VXRESTORE=UNDEF
      SAMBA_CLIENT="/usr/bin/smbclient" GNUTAR="/bin/gtar"
      COMPRESS_PATH="/bin/gzip" UNCOMPRESS_PATH="/bin/gzip"
      LPRCMD="/usr/bin/lpr" MAILER="/usr/bin/Mail"
      listed_incr_dir="/var/lib/amanda/gnutar-lists"
defs:  DEFAULT_SERVER="localhost" DEFAULT_CONFIG="DailySet1"
      DEFAULT_TAPE_SERVER="localhost"
      DEFAULT_TAPE_DEVICE="/dev/null" HAVE_MMAP HAVE_SYSVSHM
      LOCKING=POSIX_FCNTL SETPGRP_VOID DEBUG_CODE
      AMANDA_DEBUG_DAYS=4 BSD_SECURITY USE_AMANDAHOSTS
      CLIENT_LOGIN="amanda" FORCE_USERID HAVE_GZIP
      COMPRESS_SUFFIX=".gz" COMPRESS_FAST_OPT="--fast"
      COMPRESS_BEST_OPT="--best" UNCOMPRESS_OPT="-dc"