Re: [Help-tar] tar to DDS4 tape - small capacity

[Gaspar Bakos]

Hi,

This is a follow-up on my previous message, where I was complaining that I
can write only about 10Gb on a Sony DDS4 tape with a Seagate Scorpion DDS4
DAT using tar.

RE:
> > Q1: Is there a debug mode of tar, where it tells exactly why it failed?

> No, but most operating systems have a command (truss, ktrace, etc.)
> that will tell you that sort of thing.  Try seeing what system calls
> that 'tar' used.

It turns out that I get a "No space left on device" signal. Probably the
error is not due to tar, but something deeper: the Sony tape quality is
poor, or no compatible with the drive (although listed on the Sony
homepage), etc.

See below!

Cheers
Gaspar

---------------
strace -f -o tar.trace tar cvf /dev/nst0 --totals -v -b 126

After 10Gb dump: at block 164176.
Attempt for further tar:
-rw-r----- hatuser/hatuser 8470080 2003-11-22 17:42:46 6-20031122/17652.fits
-rw-r----- hatuser/hatuser 8470080 2003-11-22 17:43:36 6-20031122/17654.fits
Total bytes written: 85929984 (82MB, 1.8MB/s)
tar: /dev/nst0: Wrote only 0 of 64512 bytes
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
At block 165509.

===================
Output from strace:

12650 read(4, "\224\221\224z\224|\224\207\224y\224\234\224\202\224\247"..., 6451
2) = 64512
12650 write(3, "\224\221\224z\224|\224\207\224y\224\234\224\202\224\247"..., 645
12) = -1 ENOSPC (No space left on device)
#
#It says: no space left on device!
#
12650 time(NULL)                        = 1069962134
12650 open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.iso885915/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo", O_RDONLY) = -
1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
12650 open("/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (
No such file or directory)
12650 open("/usr/share/locale/en.iso885915/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 E
NOENT (No such file or directory)
12650 open("/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No
such file or directory)
12650 write(2, "Total bytes written: 85929984 (8"..., 46) = 46
12650 write(2, "tar: ", 5)              = 5
12650 write(2, "/dev/nst0: Wrote only 0 of 64512"..., 38) = 38
12650 write(2, "\n", 1)                 = 1
12650 write(2, "tar: ", 5)              = 5
12650 write(2, "Error is not recoverable: exitin"..., 37) = 37
12650 write(2, "\n", 1)                 = 1
12650 munmap(0x4002a000, 4096)          = 0
12650 _exit(2)                          = ?

===============
mt -f /dev/nst0 status
SCSI 2 tape drive:
File number=12, block number=0, partition=0.
Tape block size 0 bytes. Density code 0x26 (DDS-4 or QIC-4GB).
Soft error count since last status=0
General status bits on (81010000):
 EOF ONLINE IM_REP_EN

===============
/etc/stinit.def

manufacturer=SEAGATE model="DAT" revision="9070" {
        scsi2logical=1
        can-bsr can-partitions auto-lock
        mode1 blocksize=0 compression=0
        mode2 blocksize=512 compression=0
        mode3 blocksize=0 compression=1
        mode4 blocksize=512 compression=1
}