OnStream's Technical Support 5

[ChrisTyrrell]

Has anybody been able to get technical support from OmStream lately? I've been trying for the last several days. Their on-line technical support form takes me back to their home page as soon as I click on any language and their London telephone number seems to be constantly busy. I've even tried calling one of their overseas numbers and that seems to be busy as well. What's happening to OnStream?

 

[gwootton]

Kutmans,
That's a problem with either the cable or the drive's hardware itself. Try changing systems, if that doesn't work, the drive is more than likely defective.

Creech,
Don't put 1Safe on a server, its geared more toward PC backups. In fact, the Echo 1Safe software is not compatible with server operating systems.

MachineGreen,
When you were using this drive with different operating systems, did you change SCSI cards, or systems, or just swap out the OS? Did you try changing those settings in the SCSI bios, and perhaps changing the SCSI ID? Other than that, you can try changing out the cable maybe, verifying that it's terminated and all that, the problem you're having is going to be either as you said a drive head failure or a problem with the SCSI settings.

 

[MachineGreen]

Thanks, gwooton, for your help once again. In answer to your question, I changed OS, NO hardware changes. I do suspect the SCSI card/connection, as at one point it did not show the OnTrack device as present. I put the SCSI card and the streamer in a different box: same thing. Changing the SCSI ID was equally unsuccessful. The symptoms occour even before OS initialisation, so software seems unlikely. I wish I had another 68 pin SCSI card to try. I'm not sure about the termination, but I had used many times configured just as it was. It'd be great if it was the SCSI card: I hate to loose the unit, my 9 tapes, and a whole lot of data ... Could you perhaps explain to me why the light goes out with out a SCSI cable connection?

 

[MachineGreen]

Update: I did manage to update the ADR BIOS, so communication with the drive seems OK. I updated with a tape in the drive, but was not prompted, as indicated in the directions, to remove it. However, when I run the Tape@Once Driver Installer program, and run a device test, I am asked to remove the media. Last, and certainly not least, the Event Log registers 7 adr2k driver errors that reads: "The driver has detected a controller error on \Device\Tape0" Am I SOL?

 

[Homerz]

MachineGreen:

I'm getting intermittent problems similar to yours, however, in my case, it's not restricted only to the tape drive.

You should do what I'm going to; buy a cheap second-hand SCSI controller off eBay to eliminate the SCSI card as the source of the problem. Make sure the card you buy is a different make and model to the one you have now, that way you will also test whether the XP/2000 driver is at fault. While you're at it, buy a new SCSI cable ... and make it a *high quality* one. Cheap cables have been the cause of more headaches and "mysterious" problems than you might believe possible.

Once you're finished diagnosing your system, you can always resell the card - or keep it for testing purposes some time in the future.

Do a clean install with as little hardware attached/enabled as possible - I.e. - no soundcard, etc. That way you eliminate hardware resource conflicts. Do not install any software other than the OS and service packs (XP SP1 has a major SCSI overhaul) and the backup software ... oh and the drivers of course.

If you get the same result with the new card (and therefore different drivers) on the clean install, then the chances are that the drive is faulty. You could try Greg's various suggestions (see the FAQ or this thread), but short of doing a DIY repair you should prepare yourself for the harsh reality ... you need a new tape drive.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently, and I'm beginning to wonder why I bother with tapes at all. My first ever "Streamer" experience was with an Iomega Ditto Max Pro - which died on me after just one year (blown chip on the controller - and chewed a tape up in the process). Mind you, Iomega products are not typical of the industry standard, in my opinion. I've never had a positive experience with *any* Iomega product ... and I've had a few (you'd think I'd have learned the first time ... zzz).

It's occurred to me (and this is no revelation - many share this opinion) that it would simply be cheaper, easier and make more sense to spend my money on buying additional hard drives - as backup devices. I can get more Gigabytes per dollar with a hard drive than a tape drive, and I don't have to worry about whether the backup software is going to work.

I recently tried to restore a backup from tape using Novanet, and got a heap of errors which read "Format incompatible with target" ???? Eh ??? What the hell does *that* mean ... I just want to restore some files for God's sake. I wouldn't get problems like that (or any of the other numerous problems I've had with tapes over the years) with a good ol' reliable hard drive. They're way faster too, and although I have (only once so far) had a hard drive die on me ( the infamous IBM "DeathStar" - bearings failure followed inexplicably by headcrash ... I got the hint) I have had far more consistently good (reliable) experiences with hard drives than *any* other form of media. In fact most of my hard drives have even outlived my compact discs.

I remember seeing a documentary (Tomorrow's World on BBC1 ... in the UK) when they first introduced the compact disc. "Indestructible" they said. LOL! Little more than exposure to sunlight and the atmosphere seems to have "rotted" my first batch of CD's to coasters in the space of a decade.

OK, so a hard drive is not removable media ... but it *can* be. Buy a new hard drive and a hot-swap bay, and do yourself a favour.

Just my 2¢

[H]omer

 

[MachineGreen]

Homer!
Well, yes and no. The next step is to try another SCSI card, as you suggest. However, the hardware combination WAS working fine for nearly a year, so it seems that either the SCSI card or the streamer has headed south. And the SCSI card does work with other devices, and to communicate with the streamer BIOS. The drive is also recognized in windows, and that without an error.
As for hard disks, I had three "DeathStar"s and a Maxtor die on me last month - I think it was in part due to the heatspell here on the Riviera, the fact that my appartment was hotter than a witch's crotch, and that the machines are always on. Much to my dismay, I then discovered the problems with the streamer. The unit, which cost in the vicinity of 1000 GBP with the 9 cassettes, was "retired" from my office, so the price was right. (Side note: it was replaced with an HP SureStore DLT, which works like a charm. More expensive and slower, but very reliable, and used for restore many times without fail.) All my recent data is backed up on to a few hard disks, but I have archives on the tapes, and would like to get the data back.
The real interst in tapes is when using them as a backup set, with at least one tape backup per day, off-site storage, etc. You don't really want to give the delivery man a harddisk to go put in a safe some where, but a tape is pretty tough.
I did not realize that you had a hardware problem: I thought it was just a tape-spanning issue?
On the other hand, I have a box of three brand new tapes - two still in shrink wrap, one opened to unsuccessfully test my drive - that I certainly won't be needing, as well as the six others, which I will not need if I can get the data off, or at least erase them. Interested?

 

[gwootton]

MachineGreen,
I'm definitely with Homerz on trying a different SCSI card. As far as why the light goes out when it's disconnected...the ADR drives, unlike the SC drives, do require a SCSI connection to work properly, I'm not sure why they set it up this way, because the SCs option of just disconnecting it from the SCSI cable to test the drive was a pretty nice feature, at least from the standpoint of someone dealing with ones that weren't working all day long. Basically, it's because it needs to be connected otherwise it pretty much disables itself.

That error you're getting is also pretty ambiguous, I'd still want to swap out the SCSI card before saying for sure that you're SOL.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Homerz]

MachineGreen:

Well the thread about tape spanning issues is an old one now. More recently I've been getting a weird problem where the SCSI bus resets itself and causes lockups.

My log files show errors such as "unit scsi0/etc..etc failed to respond in the timeout period" and "...detected a controller error" type messages. The thing is - the problem escalated over the period of a week - on multiple OSs (WinXP,Win98,Linux), and then inexplicably just stopped. For two days now I've had no problems, and no SCSI related error messages in the logs.

The only "change" to my system was I got infected by the W32.Welchia.Worm - it somehow got through my defences - but one clean install later I've no problems. What's weird about that, is that the Welchia worm does not affect Win98 or Linux at all, yet removing it seemed to solve my SCSI problem *even under those OSs*?

Another "change" (now I think about it) is that the two intake fans at the front of the case (the ones that blow right over the hard drives) were switched off for ... well weeks I suppose. I'd switched them off because I had a headache, and just plain forgot to switch them back on. Switching the fans back on, coincided with my "clean install" (I did a full hardware/software cleanup) - so maybe it was because they were overheating. They are Seagate Cheetah X15 (15K/rpm) U160 drives. Then again, all that fiddling inside the case maybe just nudged a loose cable or card back into place. Dunno. Even that backup (that I mentioned above) now restores without problem.

I need a live-in tech support department

Back to your problem:

Your assertion that “it worked before, it should still work” does not take into consideration the fact that cables and cards come loose through vibration and heat expansion/contraction. Also all hardware packs up eventually. Then there’s Viral infection and software/resource conflicts (especially on Microsoft systems where the OS quite happily makes major system changes in the background without even telling you). On more than one occasion, I’ve discovered that the sole reason for unexplained computer failure was … dust – which is an insulator. Too much dust (especially directly on chips – E.g. memory chips) can cause overheating to the point of lockups and blue screens.

Just because a SCSI card “seems” to be working with other devices, does not mean it is 100% functional. Maybe those other devices don’t stress the I/O as much as your tape streamer. Maybe the problem is related to a background service (daemon) interfering with the backup software (an earlier update to Norton Anti-Virus seemed to have that effect on Novanet).

The news that you had earlier problems due to hot weather leads me to believe that the SCSI card has blown something minor, which only manifests itself whilst operating the tape drive – but that’s just a gut feeling. You need to isolate the problem. The fact that multiple devices all connected to the same card (correct?) all start failing – looks suspicious to me. If I’d lost 3 drives and a tape streamer in a single blow, I’d be suing the SCSI card manufacturer.

[H]omer

 

[MachineGreen]

What I meant with “it worked before, it should still work” is that there should be no incompatibility, wrongly terminated cables, conflicting hardware. I eliminate all OS questions, 'cause the light will not stop blinking once the retensioning has completed, whilst the machine is sitting in the "BIOS Setup" screen - and it used to. Gotta be either the card or the streamer, and as soon as I get my hands on another SCSI card, I will know. Unfortunatly, I am a lot more suspect of the 500 GBP streamer than the 20 GBP SCSI card. The HDD drives that went were IDE, not SCSI, and on two different machines. Also, I agree that the SCSI card could appear to be working, but not. It does, however, communicate with the card to upgrade the BIOS, interogate the status, etc. On another note, I used Winternals Disk Commander to recover 30 GBs of data from one of the bad drives, and the two others were less critical, so I feel a little better about that.
My next step is trying another SCSI card, but for the moment I have my data, I have a 80 GB backup HDD with all my important data sitting on a shelf, and I am very pesimistic as to the fate of my streamer. I've put it on the back burner for the moment...

 

[Homerz]

Let us know how you get on with the new SCSI card.

Meanwhile, if you have important data that you *must* restore from tape, I'd be willing to do it for you, copy the data to CD, and send it back to you by express post.

Believe me, I know how frustrating it is to have backed-up data you cannot access.

I'm a *lot* cheaper than a Data Recovery Agency
In fact, I'd be willing to do it in exchange for a single blank ADR50 tape.

Contact me at "tek-tips.forum at genesis-x dot nildram dot co dot uk" if you're interested.

[H]omer

 

[ce3000]

Greetings Gwootton.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

If Onstream tapes are bulk erased, will they be permanently useless (is there formatting that cannot be recovered)?

We have customer information on some Onstream tapes that we need to be sure is gone for good before the tapes can leave the NOC.

Thanks

 

[gwootton]

ce3000, if you bulk erase them, then u might be able to recreate the file system if you use tape first aid, but only if you have an ADR30 or ADR50 drive, and that would actually remove the TOC so it couldn't be read, but a data recovery program might be able to pull it still...

Thanks,
Greg

 

[uvdevnull]

gwootton, I have a client with a SC-50 drive that's been working fine for a couple of years now. Recently, the drive is refusing to open its door. Upon pressing the OPEN button, there is some movement heard and the door moves ever so slightly, but it does not open. It looks like a physical defect to me, what do you think?

Thanks,
uvdevnull

 

[gwootton]

uvdevnull, best way to test it, disconnect the drive from the scsi cable, so only getting power. if it won't open like that, it's probably not going to. Another thing you can try is taking the mounting screw out of the back left hole, sometimes that screw presses against the motor. It was a design flaw.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[jbradley]

Greg,

Do you know what became of Onstream's stock of spare parts? I think I might be able to make my SC30 operational if I could find the little drive roller wheel that drives the tape.

 

[gwootton]

jbradley, more than likely, the parts for the drive are still at the factory in Einhoven. Onstream is not gone forever, so i doubt that they will just start selling off the parts.
Thanks,
Greg

 

[gollyg]

Hi Greg,

Sorry to hassle you - you seem to be working harder now than when you were employed by onstream! Just a quick question. Basically, every time I run my 1safe backup it backs up far more information than I have changed. If I ran the backup and then ran it again straight after it would still back up over 300MB of data. I have set it to backup only changed files etc.

I am running WinXP Pro and have Norton Antivirus installed. I read somewhere on the Onstream site that there were issues with NAV and the archive bit for files, that made it hard/impossible for 1Safe to keep track of which files changed. There was a fix that involved the archive bit but I can't remember what it was.

Also, is there an issue with logging on as admin and a power user which I think might be causing a file tracking problem - 1safe wants to launch on logon, but if there is another user logged on it creates and error (database sharing). I don't really need 1safe to track the changes I make as admin, so could I change the registry key that starts Isafe running from a local machine to a current user key?

Thx in advance

James

 

[gollyg]

Sorry - should have been in a new thread. I've moved it to thread532-671393

 

[docknibbs]

Hello,
It is great to have a thread about onstream backup. I too recently discovered that the company is bankrupt. I'm glad folks are saving the links to the latest version of software and firmware updates. I have a question..could I plug the FireWire version of the onstream drive (FW30) which is advertised to work with a Mac into my PC running Win 2000? I have a internal DI30 and no bay left for it in my computer. I was going to pay $45 for an external 5.25 firewire enclosure until I found a firewire drive available for Mac.
If it doesn't work, is it possible to change the firmware some how to make it work?

thanks for the advice.
doc

 

[JeanPaulW]

Hi there,

I have a problem with flashing my adr2 120si. After booting with a floppy i load my scsi dosaspi drivers for my scsi card. That works.

Then i start s_flash.exe to flash my adr2 drive. It reconise my scsi device and then i have to make a choice.

ASPI HBA Number: [1..2]

Whatever port i choose it wont work. I tried different scsi ports on the mainboard also with different ID's. Then i thought it was the server. So i tried it on another server and still the same problem exist.

I tried to flash the adr2 on 3 different servers. On a compaq ml370, proliant 800 and a proliant 2500.
I used the scsi drivers from the smartstart cd's.

Any idea's how to flash this thing?

Thanks,
JP

 

[gwootton]

docknibbs, the software that works for the FW30 is only compatible with the macos so it won't work w/ win2k machine. the firewire enclosure MIGHT work but i've had mixed results with those.

JeanPaulW, i think it's asking for the SCSI ID.

Thanks,
Greg