Date: Fri, 15 May 2015 15:12:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Don Lewis <truckman@FreeBSD.org> To: dan@langille.org Cc: freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Dud tapes Message-ID: <201505152212.t4FMCmlI022073@gw.catspoiler.org> In-Reply-To: <BDAFE188-69BC-4FAD-904A-51C8C8A24521@langille.org>
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On 15 May, Dan Langille wrote: > >> On May 15, 2015, at 5:07 PM, Don Lewis <truckman@FreeBSD.org> wrote: >> >> On 12 May, Dan Langille wrote: >> >>> The problem occurred today on another tape after writing just 313 MB: >>> >>> May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 01 00 >>> May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error >>> May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition >>> May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error) >>> May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0x1228 >>> May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted >>> May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 02 00 >>> May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error >>> May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition >>> May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error) >>> May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0x1228 >>> May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted >>> >>> The tape before this took 111 GB, the tape after, took 791 MB (and then the backup completed). >>> >>> What do these errors mean? Does it indicate a dead tape? >> >> Bad tape, dirty or defective head, some sort of mechanical tape handling >> problem that affects the tape tension or movement, or less likely some >> other drive problem. MEDIUM ERROR means that the drive couldn't write >> the bits to the tape and read them back correctly. > > I have a bunch of new-to-me tapes. So far, 5 out of 15 have resulted in that error. Try some from another source, preferably a different brand. If you see the same, then it is likely a drive problem. At a previous job, we used HP DDS drives for backups. We got refurbed drives whenever we sent one in for a warranty repair. The would work for a while (a few months) and then cr*p out like what you are seeing. Another test is to write data repeatedly to the same tape. If it cr*ps out at about the same place every time, then it is likely to be a bad spot on the tape.
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