Hi Olivier and Jon,

> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Are the tape new?
> > 
> > Did you try different tape?
> > 
> > Did you try to write to the tape "by hand": tar cf /dev/st0 ...
> > 
> > I see that your SCSI card is Ultra 160 but your tape drive is only
> > fast wide, do you have any disk pluged in that SCSI interface? It
> > should work, but who knows, if you can (have 2 SCSI interface)
> > separate fast disks, from slow tape.
> > 
> 
The SCSI cards I've used will just go the speed of the slowest device. So if
you have a 15K RPM Drive and a backup tape drive attached. The tape
drive is going to make that hard drive lag. 

The hard drive is a SATA drive so only the tape drive is attached to the
the SCSI card.

> > > So i'm finally left with the proverbial question: is it hardware or 
> > > software?
> 
> The log messages don't sound like software to me,
> except maybe the scsi driver.
> 
> Continuing Oliver's train
> 
> > > The tape drive is a few years old the rest of the hardware is brand new.
> 
> I'd guess the SCSI terminator was left on the tape drive from the old
> configuration.  Is a fast/wide terminator appropriate for the current
> Ultra 160 configuration?
> 
> Time to sacrifice a goat to the scsi gods and check all the cables,
> terminators, board seatings & settings, and driver & firmware updates.
> 
> -- 
> Jon H. LaBadie                  jon AT jgcomp DOT com
>  JG Computing
>  4455 Province Line Road        (609) 252-0159
>  Princeton, NJ  08540-4322      (609) 683-7220 (fax)


I'll try sending some data direct, as i can do that from my office. 

>From what you have both said re: the different SCSI types. I think I
remember the onsite tech used the old cable. I'll most likely need to
schedule a visit and check the cables and terminator. 

Thanks for the pointers.

ram.

---
ram smith, systems manager
tilda communications a division of software holdings pty ltd
p (02) 9280 0258 f (02) 9280 0259 e ram AT tilda.com DOT au w 
http://www.tilda.com.au
level 1, 10 grafton st chippendale nsw 2008