Questions tagged [tapedrive]

A tape drive is a device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape, often for archival or backup purposes.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
5 votes
1 answer
74 views

Can SAS Tape Drive (HP StoreEver 6250) used with LSI SAS 9200-8e-HP?

I plan to buy secondhand HP StoreEver 6250 tape drive for backup purpose, but not sure what SAS Card that are compatible with that device and works on ubuntu seamlessly. One of the SAS card that I saw ...
1 vote
0 answers
18 views

Dell PVT-132T Tape Drive Install Assistance

OS: Windows 2012 R2 all current updates are installed. Server: Dell R710 I have an ancient Dell PVT-132T Tape Library. In the Device Manager I see the Medium Changer Device but missing the Tape Drive ...
0 votes
1 answer
206 views

What are the IOPS and physical block size for modern magnetic tapes?

It's obvious that magnetic tape media performs IO operations as well as HDDs and SSDs, although this storage device is not designed for a random access pattern. LTO standards define maximal data ...
0 votes
1 answer
184 views

Making SCSI tape drive controller accessible to VM OS using virt-manager

I'm trying to make a SCSI tape drive drive controller card (or strictly, the tape drives and robotic tape library hanging off it) visible to the OS running on the VM. I'm running RHEL 7.9 on both the ...
11 votes
8 answers
20k views

Difference between LTO half-height and full-height drives?

I've noticed that most tape drive vendors provide two options: full-height or half-height. The half-height drives are physically smaller and less expensive, yet seem to have identical specifications ...
0 votes
3 answers
204 views

Magnetic tape alternative [closed]

I have recently been assigned as a systems administrator to look after a streaming service and its related server architecture. Once a week i travel 3hours to turn around a magnetic tape library which ...
4 votes
0 answers
82 views

Read LTO Tape ID Tag

LTO 6 Tapes contain a ID tag within the casing (I assume its RFID). Is it possible to read the tag via mt commands? I would like to identify the tape that is currently loaded in the tape drive. I'm ...
0 votes
2 answers
511 views

Maximum write speed of HP Ultrium 1760 drive

The write speed of the HP Ultrium 1760 drive is specified as 120MB/s with LTO-4 media and 80MB/s with LTO-3 media. However I get half of that - 80/40 MB/s respectively. The connector is SFF-8482 at ...
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Device busy when reading from tape drive with tar

When I try to read a tar from tape with tar tvbf 2048 /dev/nst0, it returns: tar: /dev/nst0: Cannot read: Device or resource busy tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now tar: Error is not recoverable:...
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can I connect HP Ultrium 1760 drive to LSI Logic SAS 3041E controller using the cable on the picture

I want to connect HP StorageWorks LTO-4 Ultrium 1760 tape drive to LSI SAS 3041E controller using the cable on the photo. The cable is advertised as 0.7M Mini SFF-8482 to SAS 29P SATA . Or an adapter ...
2 votes
1 answer
117 views

Activate Tape Encryption on Windows Server

We use windows to make tape (LTO 8) backups with ltfs and now I want to use the hardware encryption. My problem is I can not find a way to activate it. For Linux I found "stenc" but is there something ...
5 votes
1 answer
690 views

HP Ultrium 1840 LTO-4 slow write speeds

I have an HP StorageWorks Ultrium 1840 LTO-4 external tape drive attached to a machine running Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS (kernel 4.15.0-99-generic) using an LSI20320IE PCI-X x4 SCSI adaptor with a VHDCI to ...
1 vote
0 answers
31 views

Tape always return zeros from files but with good length

I have a IBM LTO-3 ULT3580-TD3. When I try write something to tape always it returns only zeros but with good length (/size). # dd if=/media/test1 of=/dev/nst0 bs=64k # dd if=/dev/nst0 of=/media/...
3 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is there a version of mt for windows, or something similar?

First of all, I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this question. I was torn between SF and SU, but I decided for SF when I saw that questions about tape drives are scarce in SU. I need to ...
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

Which SAS cable to connect an internal HP LTO-5 tape drive?

I've bought an internal HP Ultrium 3000 LTO 5 tape drive (Model 693416-001) without SAS connection cable. Being new to SAS I have discovered that there are loads of different types of cable, and I ...
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

Old QIC80 tapes - Anyone know a tape drive that has drivers for 2003 or XP Windows?

I have project where I have to try to load some old QIC80 tapes and see what's on them. I ordered some tape drives but they work only with Windows 95! Does anyone know about tape drive that reads ...
1 vote
1 answer
783 views

Bareos Autochanger not pulling tape

I've taken over a configuration of Bareos on Debian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie). Its a fresh install, using both file and Autochanger storage. Everything looks correct and bconsole will talk with the ...
-2 votes
1 answer
670 views

Fibre Channel Ports and Tape Library

I am looking for advice rather then fix my issue. What should fibre channel port settings be? Currently F_ports, I have a qlogic 5800 sanbox switch connected to quantum scalar i40 lto7 library over ...
0 votes
1 answer
799 views

Quantum Scalar i80 - I see the tape drive, but not changer

I have a Quantum Scalar i80 connected via SAS to a CentOS 6 server. When I look in /proc/scsi/scsi, I see the tape drive, but I don't see the changer. From /proc/scsi/scsi: Host: scsi8 Channel: 00 ...
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

LTO-4 Tape Write Source Throughput Needs

I am looking to begin a tape backup regimen and am looking to keep data flowing to the tape drive in a sufficient manner (120+MBs target sustained) but cannot figure out how to do so without a ...
0 votes
1 answer
141 views

Fiber tape changer missing on lsscsi

I'm configuring a server with Bacula to manipulate backups on a Dell TL4000 connected to the server via Fiber. During the configuration of the Bacula Director I've accessed the bconsole to see if the ...
7 votes
2 answers
6k views

What does it mean, if all LEDs of an LTO-6 drive are flashing? [closed]

All LEDs of an half height LTO-6 drive are flashing with ~ 4 Hz. An LTO-5 tape is still inside, the drive does not react on commands, the flashing continues after a power cycle. I could not find the ...
2 votes
1 answer
871 views

bareos Using both tape drives (not multiplexing)

I'm using a Neoseries T24 (Flexstor II) autoloader with two drives. I have tapes (11 of them) in a pool labeled 'Full'. When I run two jobs, both for the 'Full' pool, they will wait in sequence so ...
1 vote
1 answer
907 views

How to configure the st kernel module for LTO-6 tape drives?

I found a hint to configure the st module in a mail from 2004 redhat mailinglist about a slow LTO-2 drive. modprobe st buffer_kbs=1024 max_buffers=128 max_sg_segs=128 blocking_open=1 Are similar ...
0 votes
1 answer
205 views

Connect Tape Drive to H330

I'm re-purposing a Dell T430 server. It has an H730 connected to some disks for the OS and storage. It also has an H330, which I'm trying to use to connect an older Tandberg HH LTO4 tape drive. ...
2 votes
1 answer
76 views

Moving data to tape [closed]

At my new workplace, I am expected to backup older data (large image-files) to tape. As someone who as never used tapes, I have a few questions regarding them. It would be great if someone can point ...
0 votes
2 answers
3k views

How to troubleshoot tape backup issues via mt on Linux for Windows backups?

I have an HP Ultrium 448 tape backup that is being recognized without seeming issue on Ubuntu. I am able to see it at /dev/st0. When I issue mt -f /dev/st0 offline, the tape ejects. When I issue mt ...
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

Is it possible to upgrade a LTO3 drive to LTO5 or LTO6?

We have a ML6000 Dell tape library with a LTO-3 drive (part number KU838). Can this drive support LTO-5 or LTO-6 via firmware upgrade? I could not find any information about this on Dell pages. Is ...
6 votes
1 answer
374 views

8mm Data8 tape drive compatibility for Maxell HS-8/112 and 3M D8-112

We have a Exabyte Mammoth-2 tape drive connected to a Solaris 10 box that's currently able to restore any Exabyte media no problem, but we have two other brands of 8mm tape that are shown as "illegal ...
3 votes
2 answers
4k views

Simple backup tape wiping, from linux shell?

I have a pile of old unencrypted backup tapes I want to discard, and I'm looking for a really simple and free erase method. I have previously used the following method to zero hard drives on linux. ...
2 votes
1 answer
514 views

Link between tape drive library index and its serial number on linux

I need to map system devices to their index in tape library on linux. How could I know by what index number in mtx command refers to a particular drive? I can get mapping between drive serial numbers ...
1 vote
1 answer
412 views

How can I discover the content of a non-descript LTO3?

I've been handed an LTO3 which has been written with content, but I have no idea how it was made. I've been given the task of finding out what is actually stored on the tape. I've tried the usual tar ...
4 votes
1 answer
427 views

Fibre channel: LTO tape overwritten on bus reset

There is a situation that we had at out customer that I'd like to understand better. Here's what happened: A library with LTO tape drives is connected to a fibre channel environment Archiving ...
1 vote
4 answers
1k views

Quantum LTO-4 Drive fails with new tapes and need to be cleaned too often

I have a Quantum LTO-4 HH Original Drive, and recently i'm getting a lot of problems with tapes. For a long time every 3-5 tapes, the drive asks me for a cleaning tape, but lately the drive needs to ...
1 vote
1 answer
464 views

HP DL385 G7, HP LTO 6 drive + P431 controller + 2012R2?

Im faced with the challange to making my HP385 Gen7 work with my new HP LTO 6250 drive on a HP SAS bus card. Originally the plan was to use a SC08ge adapter with srv 2008R2 but suddenly my company ...
1 vote
1 answer
91 views

Windows Backup job fails

I currently have a server configuration that allows me to schedule backup jobs and copy the specified folders to tape backup on 4MM DDS tapes. Unfortunately this is my first experience with tape ...
3 votes
1 answer
233 views

Tape drive unusable on 14.04 ESXi VM

The problem I've got an Overland ArcVault connected to my system (actually a virtual machine, with the standalone SCSI card it's connected to in passthrough mode), but it seems like the named tape ...
1 vote
0 answers
136 views

HP MSL2024 not auto changing tapes using Ultrabac 9.2.2

I am using Ultrabac 9.2.2 to run backup sets to a one drive HP MSL2024 tape library. It's currently connected via SAS 3Gbs to a HP Proliant DL380G6 running Server 2008 R2. I have the drivers from HP ...
2 votes
1 answer
585 views

Bacula not using the current In-Drive LTO Tape (but the oldest one)

I'm trying to configure Bacula to automatically recycle and use a random tape i put in the single LTO drive, but it seems to prefer the oldest backup tape despite it isn't in the drive. I already ...
4 votes
2 answers
937 views

Wrong firmware on Ultrium LTO4 1840

A client has an old MSL6030 Tape Library with a pair of LTO4 Ultrium 1840 tape drives in the back. Both have failed. We have procured identical replacements (same part # anyway) and have been unable ...
3 votes
1 answer
648 views

How to recover Symantec Backup Exec backup via Linux?

I have a tape backup from a defunct server that was created via Symantec Backup Exec version 10.1.5629 on Windows. Is it possible to extract the backup from this using some standard or open source ...
2 votes
1 answer
453 views

How to recover data from a Windows 2003 Server HP StorageWorks Ultrium 448 Backup via Linux?

I have a scenario where I have to recover a backup from an Ultirum 448 tape medium that was made on Windows 2003 server. The only system that I have available for recovery is a Linux server with ...
1 vote
1 answer
302 views

Backing up VMs without separate backup server

We're buying a new server and are switching to a virtual environment. We want to have one physical server as a host containing several guest servers. We're a small organisation and we know that ...
2 votes
0 answers
280 views

Loose threader in LTO-5 SAS internal drive [closed]

Once more I have a tape drive issue. I started seeing lots and lots of hardware errors with our LTO-5 SAS drive within our Superloader 3 changer. The main upshot was that the drive would think a ...
1 vote
2 answers
872 views

Can I plug a tape drive into a 3ware 9750 RAID controller

I need to archive about 30TB of data from a NAS RAID machine. The machine runs CentOS 5. It has a 3ware 9750-41 card with a single external SAS SFF-8088 connector. The LTO 6 external drives from ...
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Backup Solutions for 20 TB of data [duplicate]

First, some background on out situation. We're a small-medium business who has around 20 TB of data on two different NAS's, and that number grows by at least 10% annually. 90% of this data we need to ...
1 vote
1 answer
400 views

HP ProLiant dl360 G4 with external backup

We are running a HP Proliant DL360 G4 with external HP Storageworks Ultrium 960 tape drive attached at the moment. Unfortunately the tape drive failed over the weekend and we are looking to upgrade ...
0 votes
0 answers
2k views

I have an issue with a tape drive cleaning cartridge

We have an Ultrium internal tape drive to do monthly backups. Last week, in the middle of writing a tape, it ejected it with an input/output error and started flashing the cleaning light. Of course, ...
2 votes
0 answers
1k views

Bacula Loading Tape at the Wrong Library

I have two HP Tape Libraries installed on the Storage (LibHP08 and LibHP09), i tried to configure some jobs to access both libraries, but I'm having some trouble with bacula accessing the wrong ...
1 vote
6 answers
599 views

Small Business (70GB) Backup Solutions

I'm helping out a small business with their IT needs and a few questions have been raised over the quality/dependability of their backup system. Currently they have two servers in use with one ...