RE: amrecover problem: need help/advice

OK. I went to the amdump log file and found that the first file should have 352 1k blocks written to the tape.

Then I issued

mt rewind
mt -f /dev/tape_norewind fsf 1
dd if=/dev/tape_norewind of=./first_file bs=1k count=352

Then the following was received at the console:

dd: reading `/dev/tape_norewind': Input/output error
64+0 records in
64+0 records out

Then if I issue a "more ./first_file", I get instructions on how to untar this block of data, with the following:

dd if=./first_file bs=32k skip=1 | /bin/tar -tf-

The output to the console looks like:

./
./APSE10/
./APSE10/comlib/
./APSE10/comlib/SAVE/
./APSE10/comslv/
./APSE10/fileshks/
./APSE10/matlib/
./APSE10/param/
./APSE10/prepro/
./APSE10/prepro/test/
./APSE10/preprof/
./APSE10/preprof/NMENU/
./APSE10/preprof/OMENU/
./APSE10/preprof/OMENU/test/
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
./APSE10/preprof/RMENU/
./APSE10/preprof/RMENU/models/
./APSE10/preprof/falloc/
./APSE10/preprof/findbc/
./APSE10/preprof/flip/
./APSE10/preprof/interp/
./APSE10/preprof/math/
./APSE10/preprof/matrices/
./APSE10/preprof/mkmac/
./APSE10/preprof/reader/
./APSE10/preprof/refine/
./APSE10/preprof/rotate/
/bin/tar: Unexpected EOF in archive
/bin/tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
fea6::/holding_disk/:

which is about what I get from the output of amrestore. I think the key to the problem is the initial I/O error that I get from the dd statement from the tape as input device. It is similar to what I get from amrestore. It is as if the data is on the tape, but a scsi problem is not letting me read it from the tape.

One additional bit of info: The server doing all the I/O is an Alpha using a symbios scsi card/driver. It has never had this problem before and restored many a file in the past...

On Sun, 2003-07-20 at 17:44, Freels, James D. wrote:

Gregor,

Thanks for responding. I also responded back to Gene Heskett with his suggestion and a little more information.

I would like to try this idea. How can I determine NNNN from the amanda log files ? Once I output the data from the tape to the drive, how do I conver it back to a .tar file ? The amdump/amrestore is using gnutar.

Thanks...

On Sun, 2003-07-20 at 05:00, Gregor Ibic wrote:

try to read the tape (or chunk - fsf) with dd
dd if=/dev/nst0 of=/XXXX bs=1024 count=NNNN
where NNN is greater than your backup job/disk entry
and see what happens

i restored some valueable tape (MTF formated) reading this way and putting the pieces together.

regards,
gregor
-- 
James D. Freels, Ph.D.
jdfreels AT comcast DOT net  or  freelsjd AT ornl DOT gov
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-- 
James D. Freels, Ph.D.
jdfreels AT comcast DOT net  or  freelsjd AT ornl DOT gov
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