ADSM-L

Re: More on 3590K tape quality issues

2001-05-11 15:05:22
Subject: Re: More on 3590K tape quality issues
From: Steve Schaub <Steve.Schaub AT HAWORTH DOT COM>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 15:06:07 -0400
So, my supplier has been misleading me when she tells me that "no one else is 
reporting any problems", in spite of repeated instances of our backups failing 
and K tapes going readonly.  And these are brand new tapes that we paid to have 
labeled & initialized for us!

I have been sending the offending volumes back to the manufacturer (Imation) 
and they have been good about running analysis and replacing ones that show 
bad, but I would rather just have dependable media in the first place.

I have a set right now that I ejected - Richard, are you saying that running 
the "label libv" command against them will likely fix the problem?  If so, can 
you send me the exact syntax you use - I tried this once, but the tapes didn't 
even seem to load into the drives so I doubt it accomplished much for me.  
Thanks.

Steve Schaub
Haworth, Inc
email: Steve.Schaub AT Haworth DOT com

No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However a large
number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.


>>> bbullock AT MICRON DOT COM 05/11 12:52 PM >>>
        Yes, the 'overwrite=yes' option was used every time. It just seems
to stubbornly fail until it decides to work a few tries later... These tapes
are possessed I tell you, pure evil.   >;-)

Ben Bullock
Unix system manager
Micron Technology Inc.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Longo [mailto:David.Longo AT HEALTH-FIRST DOT ORG] 
> Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 10:32 AM
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU 
> Subject: Re: More on 3590K tape quality issues
>
>
> When you all label theses tapes, do you use overwrite=yes?  I
> had occaisional problems with new tapes in 3575 library and
> when I started using overwrite=yes, I had no further problems
> with labeling.  I suspect that even with new tapes there
> maybe "something" on the tape.
>
>
> David B. Longo
> System Administrator
> Health First, Inc.
> 3300 Fiske Blvd.
> Rockledge, FL 32955-4305
> PH      321.434.5536
> Pager  321.634.8230
> Fax:    321.434.5525
> david.longo AT health-first DOT org 
>
>
> >>> bbullock AT MICRON DOT COM 05/11/01 12:08PM >>>
>         I second this issue. These puppies are a real problem to get
> labeled. We have our IBM CE check that we had the latest and greatest
> drivers installed (tape drive microcode, Atape drivers, atldd
> software), but
> the problem persists.
>         In our case, we also seem to have a higher incidence
> of the 'K'
> tapes logging an error and being marked as readonly. We
> change the tape back
> to readw, and it continues to write and read the tape with no
> problems.
>
>         The new tapes just seem to be very sensitive, and
> throw up the panic
> flag more often.
>
> Ben Bullock
> Unix system manager
> Micron Technology Inc.
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Richard Sims [mailto:rbs AT BU DOT EDU] 
> > Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 9:51 AM
> > To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU 
> > Subject: More on 3590K tape quality issues
> >
> >
> > Postings from customers using 3590K tapes have, over the
> past months,
> > noted problems which most conspicuously turn up when trying to label
> > the tapes.  I had the same problem of I/O errors on several tapes
> > two months ago, in the labeling process.  I persisted in performing
> > the label operation on the problematic ones, and finally
> got them all
> > labeled.  Once labeled, no problems.
> >
> > Today I received a fresh shipment of 3590K tapes (IBM part
> > number 05H3188)
> > and labeled 70 of them.  Three exhibited labeling problems,
> > on different
> > drives. I repeated the Label Libvolume on those three: two of
> > them then
> > successful, one failed.  Repeated on the last tough one and
> > it finally went
> > through.
> >
> > Such is the current state of 3590K tape and drive harmony,
> at least at
> > this site.
> >
> >     Richard Sims, BU
> >
>
>
>
> "MMS <health-first.org>" made the following
>  annotations on 05/11/01 12:33:12
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