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Date:      Sat, 5 Jul 1997 21:06:59 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Keith Mitchell <kmitch@weenix.guru.org>
To:        gibbs@plutotech.com (Justin T. Gibbs)
Cc:        scsi@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Archive Viper and 3940UW (bad Drive?)
Message-ID:  <199707060106.VAA12128@weenix.guru.org>
In-Reply-To: <199707052152.PAA26449@pluto.plutotech.com> from "Justin T. Gibbs" at "Jul 5, 97 03:52:49 pm"

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> You shouldn't have to erase used tapes before using them either.

OK, that is what I thought originally, but then given that erasing them
"seemingly" solved the timeout problem I don't know what to think.  What
does erasing a tape actually do?  It doesn't take but a few seconds.  My
guess is it basically erases the header info that says there is data there,
but I really don't know.

> If the tape drive needs to look at the media before it can respond, then
> the .5s timeouts are way too short.

I don't know if it actually looks at the media, but the "busy" light on
the drive comes on (of course that light comes on and stays on while the
tape is mounted).

> >I am not exactly sure what the cause was.  Whether everytime amanda
> >rewrote the header, the filemark got longer or what happened.  Erasing
> >the tapes did seem to fix it though.  Right now, I am running without
> >any mods to the timeout values and all seems to be working correctly
> >(since I erased the tapes).
> 
> Which will last for how many months before your dumps panic the system
> again?? 8-)

Yes, but even if the timeout values were adjusted, it would eventually panic
the system  on those values as well (given the fact that over time the
access to the tape seems to take longer).

-- 
Keith Mitchell					Head Administrator: acm.vt.edu
Email: kmitch@weenix.guru.org			PGP key available upon request
http://weenix.guru.org/~kmitch 
     Address and URL (c) 1997 Keith Mitchell - All Rights Reserved
   		Unauthorized use or duplication prohibited



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