Very Computer

by **Jonathan William** » Tue, 04 Oct 1994 23:45:16

Well, I thought I had ftape working, but I guess I was wrong. I'm running
Linux kernel version 1.0.9 and ftape version 1.13b patched for the conner bug
and compiled with the -DCONNER_BUG flag.

When I finally got done compiling, I used tar to backup my drive. It went
through several hundred files, and then suddenly stopped with an I/O error
writing to the device.

I'm assuming that its a bad sector on the tape, since I was able to verify
everything up to that point, but how do I confirm this and mark the sector as
bad so I can continue?

Jon Williams
University of Northern Iowa

by **Ike Brenn** » Sat, 08 Oct 1994 03:15:28

Quote:
> Well, I thought I had ftape working, but I guess I was wrong. I'm running
> Linux kernel version 1.0.9 and ftape version 1.13b patched for the conner bug
> and compiled with the -DCONNER_BUG flag.

> When I finally got done compiling, I used tar to backup my drive. It went
> through several hundred files, and then suddenly stopped with an I/O error
> writing to the device.

> I'm assuming that its a bad sector on the tape, since I was able to verify
> everything up to that point, but how do I confirm this and mark the sector as
> bad so I can continue?

> Jon Williams
> University of Northern Iowa

I've had almost the exact same problems (sorry no fix yet). I have
noticed in the message file (/var/adm/messages) that ftape finally
chokes when it gets an error trying to write to the header. I think
this is occurring after successfully updating the header numerous
times since I have a flood of the same previous "error sector #/
reposition") messagesjust before it finally chokes. Anyone got
ideas on this?
Ike

---
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by **Peter Dalgaard S** » Sat, 08 Oct 1994 21:27:04

>> When I finally got done compiling, I used tar to backup my drive. It went
>> through several hundred files, and then suddenly stopped with an I/O error
>> writing to the device.

> I've had almost the exact same problems (sorry no fix yet). I have
> noticed in the message file (/var/adm/messages) that ftape finally
> chokes when it gets an error trying to write to the header. I think
> this is occurring after successfully updating the header numerous
> times since I have a flood of the same previous "error sector #/
> reposition") messagesjust before it finally chokes. Anyone got
> ideas on this?
>Ike

Hmm. One of the previous versions had an end-of track problem.
Essentially, it went looking for a sector that wasn't there and
forgot to reset the FDC when it failed. I sent Bas a fix then
(sometime back in jan/feb or thereabouts) but he replied that
the problem had been fixed in another way. Perhaps it's crept in
again? Forgot details, looking into it during the weekend.

If it goes on at multiples of 160 (?) sectors, this is likely
to be the cause.

ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
ANIDIOTICNEWSREADERISINSISTINGTHATIPUTMOREBYTESINTHANIQUOTE!!!
--
O_ ---- Peter Dalgaard
c/ /' --- Dept. of Biostatistics
( ) \( ) -- University of Copenhagen

by **David Bo** » Sat, 08 Oct 1994 07:13:19

: ...

: When I finally got done compiling, I used tar to backup my drive. It went
: through several hundred files, and then suddenly stopped with an I/O error
: writing to the device.

I'm getting exactly this behavior with a Colorado Jumbo 250. Linux
version is 1.1.51, using ftape-1.13b.

It seems unlikely this is caused by a bad sector on the tape, since
the exact point of failure varied quite a bit. I've tried several
different tapes, and they all seem to die 15-25Mb into a backup.

This is all very mystifying to me, and I still can't back up my hard
drive. :-(

David Bonn

by **Dennis Flaher** » Sun, 09 Oct 1994 16:18:43

Quote:
> Well, I thought I had ftape working, but I guess I was wrong. I'm running
> Linux kernel version 1.0.9 and ftape version 1.13b patched for the conner bug
> and compiled with the -DCONNER_BUG flag.

Glad you got that working. Now you can use the tapes you just formatted
with Conner's buggy tape formatting software.

Quote:> When I finally got done compiling, I used tar to backup my drive. It went
> through several hundred files, and then suddenly stopped with an I/O error
> writing to the device.

> I'm assuming that its a bad sector on the tape, since I was able to verify
> everything up to that point, but how do I confirm this and mark the sector as
> bad so I can continue?

Here's a tip: are you using compression with tar? Trying using tar's
--block-compress option to provide more buffer space between where tar
is and where gzip is compressing. I use

tar --block-compress -czf /dev/ftape files ...

and it doesn't bomb out anymore like it did before I used that option.

--

Oatmeal Stout: It's the Right Thing to Drink!

by **Don Garre** » Sat, 08 Oct 1994 08:18:11

: >
: > Well, I thought I had ftape working, but I guess I was wrong. I'm running
: > Linux kernel version 1.0.9 and ftape version 1.13b patched for the conner bug
: > and compiled with the -DCONNER_BUG flag.
: >
: > When I finally got done compiling, I used tar to backup my drive. It went
: > through several hundred files, and then suddenly stopped with an I/O error
: > writing to the device.
: >
: > I'm assuming that its a bad sector on the tape, since I was able to verify
: > everything up to that point, but how do I confirm this and mark the sector as
: > bad so I can continue?
: >
: > Jon Williams
: > University of Northern Iowa

: I've had almost the exact same problems (sorry no fix yet). I have
: noticed in the message file (/var/adm/messages) that ftape finally
: chokes when it gets an error trying to write to the header. I think
: this is occurring after successfully updating the header numerous
: times since I have a flood of the same previous "error sector #/
: reposition") messagesjust before it finally chokes. Anyone got
: ideas on this?
: Ike

I've been trying (on and off) to get ftape to work since it was
first introduced. These are almost the exact symptoms I've always had,
and the amount of information written out before errors begin is
always constant.

However, when I recently tried to reformat my linux tape under DOS,
the format failed. The tape (which was good before linux use) is no
longer usable by anything.

I haven't yet tried my only other tape, or ordered any replacement
tapes. I plan to soon though.

--
Don Garrett Louisiana Tech

http://info.latech.edu/~dgarrett/

by **Another Toto** » Tue, 11 Oct 1994 10:29:28

May I ask which version of modutil are you using now? With 0.99.15 modutil,
it will complain whenever I load up ftape.o (something like request_dma()
not defined or something). And when I tried to compile modules.tar.gz (I
suppose this is the newest one), it complain about something that's undefined
and bomb out with the make process (making insmod).

I did manage to make ftape 0.9.10a and modutil 0.9.15 work together.

BTW, I am running kernel 1.0.9, gcc 2.4.5, and the version of ld that doesn't
accept the -qmagic flag.

: >
: > Well, I thought I had ftape working, but I guess I was wrong. I'm running
: > Linux kernel version 1.0.9 and ftape version 1.13b patched for the conner bug
: > and compiled with the -DCONNER_BUG flag.

: Glad you got that working. Now you can use the tapes you just formatted
: with Conner's buggy tape formatting software.

by **Peter Dalgaard S** » Tue, 11 Oct 1994 17:58:15

>Hmm. One of the previous versions had an end-of track problem.
>Essentially, it went looking for a sector that wasn't there and
>forgot to reset the FDC when it failed. I sent Bas a fix then
>(sometime back in jan/feb or thereabouts) but he replied that
>the problem had been fixed in another way. Perhaps it's crept in
>again? Forgot details, looking into it during the weekend.

Installed Linux 1.1.52 & Ftape 1.13b. Can't reproduce the
problem. Only I/O-error I got was by forgetting that the
non-rewinding driver was being used and hitting end-of-tape!
So the old bug seems to be gone. Backed up 129 Mb in 36 minutes.
Just as well, because immediately thereafter I did the classical
*U*X goof 'rm -rf ftape *' in my home directory!!!

However, I had another curious problem: Somehow the tape got
into a state where it stayed busy after commands so I had to
eject and reinsert the tape between each command. Only got back
to normal after cycling power.
--
O_ ---- Peter Dalgaard
c/ /' --- Dept. of Biostatistics
( ) \( ) -- University of Copenhagen

by **Timothy Murp** » Tue, 11 Oct 1994 22:07:39

Quote:>Installed Linux 1.1.52 & Ftape 1.13b. Can't reproduce the
>problem. Only I/O-error I got was by forgetting that the
>non-rewinding driver was being used and hitting end-of-tape!
>So the old bug seems to be gone. Backed up 129 Mb in 36 minutes.
>Just as well, because immediately thereafter I did the classical
>*U*X goof 'rm -rf ftape *' in my home directory!!!

Please tell us _exactly_ how you backed up.
What commands did you use?
(If possible, just give the actual commands.)

--
Timothy Murphy

tel: +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

by **Peter Dalgaard S** » Wed, 12 Oct 1994 00:16:32

>>So the old bug seems to be gone. Backed up 129 Mb in 36 minutes.
>>Just as well, because immediately thereafter I did the classical
>>*U*X goof 'rm -rf ftape *' in my home directory!!!
>Please tell us _exactly_ how you backed up.
>What commands did you use?
>(If possible, just give the actual commands.)

Let's see, root login (XDM), /bin/bash, $TAPE == /dev/nftape
486DX2, slow IDE disk.

GZIP=-1 time nice -n -18 tar cvzlb 58 /

('b 58' == 58 512b blocks == 29k == 1 tape sector, fastest gzip
option, nice it to very high priority or X context switches get
in the way, 'l' == don't cross filesystems (in particular not
/proc !) Someone else said that just using the --block-compress
option works well too.

--
O_ ---- Peter Dalgaard
c/ /' --- Dept. of Biostatistics
( ) \( ) -- University of Copenhagen

by **Janne Sinkkon** » Wed, 12 Oct 1994 07:49:14

Quote:>GZIP=-1 time nice -n -18 tar cvzlb 58 /

>('b 58' == 58 512b blocks == 29k == 1 tape sector, fastest gzip
>option, nice it to very high priority or X context switches get
>in the way, 'l' == don't cross filesystems (in particular not
>/proc !) Someone else said that just using the --block-compress
>option works well too.

I use a backup-1.0x utility from sunsite.unc.edu, that one which uses
afio, a Conner drive, and I have been unable to make any backup with
1.1.52. because of tons of I/O errors.

Anyone have this kind of combination?

--

by **Bigfo** » Wed, 12 Oct 1994 10:25:09

I could not compile ftape1.13b under Linux 1.1.52. Anybody knows if I have
to apply some kind of patch to ftape 1.13b, to be able to compile it ?

Very Computer

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