On Fri, May 23, 2003 at 10:26:22PM +0800, Mathias Körber wrote:
> Hi all,
> [I asked this on UseNet (comp.os.linux.hardware etc), but hope someone here
> may have some insights too..]
> 
> 
> I just got a Dell PowerVault 100T DDS4 tapedrive and would like to ensure
> that when bcking up with AMANDA (www.amanda.org) the hardware compression
> is OFF.
> 
> Obviously I can turn it off on the drive itself (DIP-switch 1) but that
> should also be doable using a SCSI command (thus leaving h/w comp
> available for non-amanda usage if required)
> 
> Question is: How do I do that? Is there a special tape device (/dev/nrmtu0
> or such for *u*ncompressed access and the driver will take card of that),
> or does AMANDA know how to send SCSI commands to its device [ I could not
> find anything though on first look].
> 
> I am running a 2.4.18 kernel.
> 

The mt command on linux has appropriate options I believe.

Also, I'm told the mtx software package includes a program tapeinfo
which can tell you the compression status of the device.

-- 
Jon H. LaBadie                  jon AT jgcomp DOT com
 JG Computing
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