> All,
>
> My knowledge of 'dd' is a functional one at best, so I'm open to being
> educated here.
>
> Environment:
> Solaris 8 (SPARC)
> a 12 GB database dump, called "filename.tgz"
> a DLT8000 drive through SCSI diff. card
> command:  dd if=/dir/filename.tgz of=/dev/rmt/1cbn bs=[several different
> tries:  1024, 96k, 192k, etc.]
>
> I have tried several different block sizes, but none seems to make any
> difference in improving the throughput beyond about 200 KB/sec.

That's stunningly awful.  I'd try checking the speed of accessing the
file and the tape drive separately.  What are these speeds?

time dd if=/dir/filename.tgz of=/dev/null bs=64k count=960
time dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rmt/1cbn bs=64k count=960

The count=960 * 64k should mean about 60MB, so the speed calculation is
easier.

Are there any lights on the drive?  Are you getting 40/compressed lit?

--
Darren Dunham                                           ddunham AT taos DOT com
Senior Technical Consultant         TAOS            http://www.taos.com/
Got some Dr Pepper?                           San Francisco, CA bay area
         < This line left intentionally blank to confuse you. >

--
Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv AT listmail.temple DOT edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listmail.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
also view and post messages to the list.
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=