Seagate STT3401A on FC2

[Bob McClure Jr]

On Mon, Nov 22, 2004 at 08:03:20PM -0500, Ken & Joy Carr wrote:
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com
> [mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Rick Stevens
> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 12:54 PM
> To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> Subject: Re: Seagate STT3401A on FC2
> 
> Bob McClure Jr wrote:
> > On Sat, Nov 20, 2004 at 12:20:51PM -0500, Ken Carr wrote:
> > 
> >>We're running FC2 (recently upgraded from FC1) on a Dell Power Edge
> >>400SC. We have just started trying to use the tape drive. The hardware
> >>browser identifies the drive as Seagate STT3401A, /dev/hdd
> >>
> >>With a tape installed, we get the following:
> >>[root at flclxserver root]# mt -f /dev/hdd rewind
> >>/dev/hdd: Input/output error
> >>
> >>What things should we check before suspecting bad hardware?
> >>
> >>Thanks for any help you can provide.
> >>
> >>Ken Carr
> > 
> > 
> > You may need to use a more tape-like device name.  I have a Seagate
> > STT8000A on /dev/hdd and I call it /dev/nht0.  Check this:
> > 
> >   cat /proc/ide/ide1/hdd/name
> > 
> > It may say something like "ht0".  Normally, the non-rewinding version
> > is used, /dev/nht0.
> > 
> > If it doesn't respond to that try
> > 
> >   modprobe ide-tape
> > 
> > then try again.
> 
> Thanks, Bob. -- ht0 it is! We're now safely backed up.

Glad to hear you are rolling tape.

> I have learned a lot from this list. It's good to have gurus like you and
> Rick and others to help us newbies along. Thanks for being there.

You are quite welcome.  Rick does more than I, though.  I take the
easy ones and he (and Jeff Kinz and other experts) catches the hard
ones.  Someone who manages a few hundred machines has learned a lot.
Fortunately, he's willing to share it.

> > Here's an interesting thing about my tape.  After a reboot, an attempt
> > to back up to it results in a failure like "device busy" or some
> > such, but the next and all following work fine.  When I upgraded to
> > FC2, I think that problem went away.  I don't recall.  I don't reboot
> > that much. :-)
> 
> Yes, IDE tapes are normally "/dev/htx" or "/dev/nhtx".  SCSI tapes are
> "/dev/stx" and "/dev/nstx".
> 
> Bob, you might try "mt -i /dev/ht0 rewoffl" first (rewind and eject).
> Sometimes that initializes the drive adequately to prevent such issues.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> - VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
> -                                                                    -
> -    Admitting you have a problem is the first step toward getting   -
> -    medicated for it.      -- Jim Evarts (http://www.TopFive.com)   -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
robertmcclure at earthlink.net  http://www.bobcatos.com
Grace happens.