On Thu, Sep 12, 2002 at 04:48:54PM +0200, Mozzi wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Watch out for tapetype!!!
> I have a Tandberg VS80 DLT 40/80 Gig drive
> I gave it the command #./tapetype -e 40960 -f /dev/nst0 -t TandbergVS80
> 
> It has been going for 26 hours now,and no end in sight.

I don't know what release of amanda the tapetype came from.
Old versions were horribly slow on some tape drives as it
wrote an end of file mark after every 32K of random data.
This resulted in what was known as "shoe shining" where after
writing the filemark, the tape stopped, backed up to resync
with the start of the next file, and resumed writing.
For each 32K block!!

You can probably check the specs for your tape drive.
and determine approximately how long it should take to run.
Two complete tape writes are done.  If it takes longer than
say 3 or 4 times the time needed for one complete write,
something may be amiss.

Tapetype is a standalone program.  You could get the source
from a new distribution and compile it.

OH wait, nevermind  --  I seem to be saying that frequently! :((

You gave tapetype an estimate.
The -e option came in after the bad old days.
-- 
Jon H. LaBadie                  jon AT jgcomp DOT com
 JG Computing
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