Tape drive errors: cleaning required very often

[akkie]

Hi,

Recently we are having troubles with one of our TL892 DLT tape libraries. The unit is indicating nearly every other days that it requires cleaning. Sometimes Networker backups fail but not always.
We have had our tapes analyzed by an external company. The tapes are not excessively dirty. There are more Tape libraries in the same server room which do not have these problems. We suspect there might be too much dust in the air.
Does anyone have any similar experience? Any advice?

Thanks,
Willem

 

[backupworker]

I have had this problem before, and there is a patch out there from Microsoft that is supposed to fix this problem.

look for article q319313 from microsoft's website. that will give you more info. thanks.

 

[akkie]

backupworker,
Thanks for your reply. However we are using Compaq Tru64 Unix, so I don't think a Microsoft patch will be much help
We are now upgrading the firmware on the drive units, as per HP's advice. Hopefully this will help...

 

[matthewbrotherson]

Hi

I am currently experiencing the same problem with a Compaq TL895 tape silo with 2 drives. Both drives require cleaning nearly every other day. I have replaced both drives and i am still experiencing this error. The server is Windows 2000 SP4 and connected to the tape silo via a Modular Data Router. Compaq have upgraded the firmware on the drives, the barcode reader, the router and the silo. The backup software is Legato Networker 6.2.2. I have tried deleting the Jukebox and recreating it to no avail. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Cheers

Matthew

 

[sdeb]

First you should check all the SCSI chain (cable and terminators).

Then you should take a look at drivers (SCSI adapter or tape driver), try to install older or newer versions on these drivers.

SCSI errors are often generated by bad drivers.

 

[akkie]

Hi Matthew,

We didnt really solve this problem. We had tapes cleaned by a specialised company; this didnt help. We changed nearly all the hardware, including the SCSI cables; didnt help either. Upgraded the firmware; same thing.
In the end we were loosing it... However in our company SAN was being initiated at that time, so we were able to use a tapedrive from the SAN and abandon our SCSI tapedrives. So that was the way we solved it
But I suspect the tapes weren't really dirty, just something was causing the tape-units to report the tapes as dirty and refusing to write to them...

By now even the UNIX server has migrated to other hardware...

Good luck!
-Willem