----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> I just installed 4.1, and this afternoon I set out to see if I couldn't
> get the tape backup working. I'm using a Seagate/Conner CTT8000 tape
> unit (4/8GB Travan TR-4 drive) attached to an Adaptec AHA-1535A (which
> acts just like a 1542). The system sees the card and the drive just
> fine.
>
> The backup fails with messages like this:
>
> buffer (writer): write of data failed: Input/output error
> bytes to write=10240, bytes written=-1, total written 10K
> DUMP: Broken pipe
> DUMP: The ENTIRE dump is aborted.
>
> Trying a different tape gives the same results. Checking through my
> saved messages, I tried a few diagnostics:
>
> [root@e-smith dan]# dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/st0 bs=1024k
> dd: writing `/dev/st0': Input/output error
> 0+2 records in
> 0+1 records out
>
> [root@e-smith dan]# dd if=/dev/st0 of=/dev/null bs=1024k
> 0+1 records in
> 0+1 records out
>
> [root@e-smith dan]# mt -t /dev/st0 status
> SCSI 2 tape drive:
> File number=0, block number=0, partition=0.
> Tape block size 512 bytes. Density code 0x45 (QIC-3095-MC (TR-4)).
> Soft error count since last status=0
> General status bits on (41010000):
> BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN
>
Dan,
I had success with one backup after using Taper utilities to prepare the
tape.
However, a second backup, using the same tape, failed with messages similar
to yours.
We may have a transient problem here. I am trying Taper utilities
again to see what happens.
Orville Carter
