Off-topic Onstream ADR30 tape problem

[J. Erik Hemdal]

Hi Paul:

> I have a very strange problem which I am hoping maybe someone 
> else with 
> an Onstream ADR50 SCSI drive may have run into and can help me. I 
> purchased 12 ADR30 cartridges off Ebay.

Were they advertised as new/sealed/certified/etc.?  Have you had success
with this vendor in the past?  

> 
> Sep  5 19:56:18 nureyev kernel: st0: Error with sense data: Current 
> st09:00: sense key Data Protect
> Sep  5 19:56:18 nureyev kernel: Additional sense indicates 
> Cannot write 
> medium - incompatible format
> 
> Now before you all shout at me ... yes I checked the little 
> tab ... the 
> tapes are not physically write-protected! It is as if there was 
> something recorded on these tapes which have "software 
> write-protected" 

I've never seen "software write protected" tapes, but I have seen
soft-formatted ones.  If the tapes are not truly factory-fresh and
formatted, then all bets can be off.  If they were "bulk-erased" (where
someone applies an external magnetic field to thoroughly erase data), if the
tapes were mishandled en route to you or magnetically damaged, the
formatting can go awry.  Then you simply might not be able to use the tapes
at all, without re-establishing a clean reformat.  That might not be
possible without equipment from the tape manufacturer's factory.  It's not
what's recorded on the tape that's the problem, but what ISN'T there that
needs to be.

If the tapes have been cleaned or "refurbished", the magnetic surface might
be damaged and no longer readable.  Even simply erasing a tape can
physically remove the magnetic oxide surface and wreck the tape.  It might
damage your drive, as well.  It's impossible to know for certain without
knowing more about the situation.

> them. I have tried to erase them to now avail.  I always seem 
> to get the 
> message in the log file you see above. Has anyone else ever seen 
> anything like this problem? I know it is the tape because I have 14 
> others that work fine. Also I can't believe that 6 out of 12 
> tapes are 
> bad ... I really think there is something on them that is 
> preventing me 
> from writing to them. If I could turn that off then I think the tapes 
> will work fine.

Once a tape or diskette behaves at all improperly, I would no longer trust
it.  As expensive as tape can be, it's cheaper than reconstructing data.  

> 
> Thanks for any help on this strange question.
> 

I wish I could be of more help.  Good luck!   Erik
> -- 
> Paul (ganci at nurdog.com)