On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 10:10:40 -0500, George Sinclair
<George.Sinclair AT NOAA DOT GOV> wrote:

>We have been receiving errors from NetWorker regarding the block size
>(see error message below) when recovering data from tapes on our
>StorageTek L80 LTO tape library. We were trying to recover data from a
>Unix host, not an NT box. This library is connected to a Linux
>storagenode server running NetWorker 6.1.1. This is our only
>storagenode. We are not using DDS, and the few NT clients that we have
>are only clients. We have no NT NetWorker servers or storagenode
>servers. The primary server is running 6.1.1. also but under Solaris.
>The recoveries work, but they seem to take longer than they should,
>particularly given the fact that we were just recovering one file, and
>sometimes we've had to retry after receiving on one occasion a "tape
>busy" message. One suggestion from this forum was to check the block
>size definition as discussed in the admin guide and perhaps set the
>environment variable(s) as necessary.

It should not be necessary to change the block size for LTO drives. The
default of 64KB is a good one, universal across platforms, and there are
always advantages to using defaults too.

What I think you are seeing is a genuine hardware problem. Answer me two
questions:

(1) What brand of LTO drive are you using? Seagate by any chance?
(2) What brand of tapes are you using?

Check with STK or your drive manufacturer and you should obtain a
recommendation for compatible media. STK only recommend two brands, and
there is a good chance that you will have serious problems with many others.
This is not hearsay, I speak from bitter first hand experience.

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