UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

When starting the system I see NCS Broker Daemon ......[Fail] What is not going to work since this Daemon failed?

Could this be the reason I am not able to get my tape drive to work? When I tar a file to the tape drive I don't get any errors, however, when I try to read the tape I get Tar: tape read error The command I use to read the tape drive is tar tvf /dev/rmt/0m

Thanks in advance for your help.

Get the tape drive cleaned and start again to see...

So, I used a head cleaning tape (new) and used a new tape and got the same error. I even changed out the tape drive unit and still got the error Tar: tape read error

Maybe this is a superfluous warning, but just to make sure: tar t... tries to read a tape archive. If you insert a new tape it follows there is nothing on it which could be read at all.

You did use tar c... before to write something onto it, yes?

And you did rewind the tape after writing, yes? Some tape drives do that automatically, but some do not.

bakunin

tar t... did have the light on the external drive blink before the error was displayed.
tar cvf ... was used
I took the tape out and put it back in (rewind) and still got a read error.

Lights blinking on tape drives are often cuased by need cleaning... when it cannot read, then you must pass the tape cleaner a few times before it will read correctly, then as bakunin mentionned it will need something to read, and preferably a tape you nkow not faulty, then if unlucky ( happened to me...) you can have a drive that can read but unable to write anymore...

It has been years since i have used my last tape, but i remember the read/write heads of IBM tape drives becoming broken over time. The symptom of this happening was usually that the drive reported needing a cleaning tape but feeding it one would help only for a very few reads or none at all. Every cleaning tape run is taking away a very small amount of the magnetic coating of the head and at some point it may be used up.

Bottom line: get a technician to replace the drive. It is probably broken.

I hope this helps.

bakunin