Nekochan Net

It's been ages since I did this, but I need to get some old files off tape. Some were backed up via the Irix System Manager, others via tar. Hardware is O2 and HP DAT40.

I get errors like this:

david@scaramanga david$ /usr/freeware/bin/tar --list --file=/dev/tape
/usr/freeware/bin/tar: /dev/tape: Cannot open: No such file or directory

/usr/freeware/bin/tar --list --file=/dev/rmt/tps1d3nr
/usr/freeware/bin/tar: /dev/rmt/tps1d3nr: Cannot read: I/O error
/usr/freeware/bin/tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
/usr/freeware/bin/tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

Via the GUI I get cpio "Errors during read of backup".

I can get the tape to eject from Irix, so hardware is being detected. Tried multiple tapes, all have the same trouble. SCSI seems to be terminated and plugged in. What else to try?

what does 'mt status' or 'mt blksize' say?
have you tried using the sgi tar?

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Both mt status and blksize say:

/dev/nrtape: No such file or directory in filesystem

maybe running autoconfig && ioconfig -f /hw will help to ensure your kernel and /hw are up to date with the devices you have installed....

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[click for links to hinv] JP: [ :Fuel: :Octane2: :O2: :Indy: ] PL: [ :Fuel: ]
For Sale: 2*O200 M/B, 2*O200 PSU, 6*256MB O200 RAM, 2*O200 SCSI Backplane, 2*O200 MSC, DMediaPro DM-2 ( 030-1653-002 Rev. H , XT-DIGVID) with Octane XIO pull (Origin pull optionally available)

Also keep in mind that, depending on the version of IRIX under which the backups were made, the System Manager backup tool sometimes used programs other than tar, such as cpio or bru. More info at viewtopic.php?p=7290331#p7290331

Hey now, don't forget about the Backup/Restore Manager wiki page. It includes the table of versions, links into TechPubs, and tips for reading those tapes on non-IRIX systems. If you run across something that isn't there, please feel free to edit the page and add it...

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Then? ... Now? +MLA ... Other: DEC Sun, DG AViiON, NeXT

Sorry about that! You are right - the wiki page is the place to go for info about the IRIX Backup and Restore Manager. Nice job on the page!

Thanks for the kind words. The wiki is (hopefully) a good resource, but certainly not the only one. Please keep sharing links to threads that you have bookmarked, etc - there's often helpful yet tangential information that wouldn't show up in any one wiki page.

And everybody bear in mind, you can create an account and create or edit a page in the wiki yourselves. If you had to spend several hours digging around for a solution, odds are somebody else will be in the same boat one day - consider adding what you learned to an existing page, or create a new one.

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Then? ... Now? +MLA ... Other: DEC Sun, DG AViiON, NeXT

That sounds like good advice. Anybody with a DAT drive on an O2 want to share which device special file(s) they use successfully?

If none of this is getting anywhere, do you have another machine you could connect the DAT drive to, to see if it works there?

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Then? ... Now? +MLA ... Other: DEC Sun, DG AViiON, NeXT

the MAKEDEV script creates the nrtape etc links to /hw/rmt/ devices when they exist. but there are special ioctls that need to be called on the tape device when it is used, that's why I recommend native irix tar.

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Thanks. I tried the autoconfig thing, and now when I try to read the backup the GUI says "Tape full. Please insert the next tape".

My O2 is the only computer I have with a SCSI interface. Strange.

better full tape than no tape

can you try this:

mt rewind
dd if=/dev/tape of=/tmp/file bs=1024 count=100
file /tmp/file

if it reads anything, it may tell you the header of data on the tape - (cpio,tar,etc) and then use according tool to read the data.

_________________
[click for links to hinv] JP: [ :Fuel: :Octane2: :O2: :Indy: ] PL: [ :Fuel: ]
For Sale: 2*O200 M/B, 2*O200 PSU, 6*256MB O200 RAM, 2*O200 SCSI Backplane, 2*O200 MSC, DMediaPro DM-2 ( 030-1653-002 Rev. H , XT-DIGVID) with Octane XIO pull (Origin pull optionally available)

mt rewind
/dev/nrtape: No such file or directory in filesystem

Also

dd if=/dev/tape of=/tmp/file bs=1024 count=100
Cannot open /dev/tape: No such file or directory

Mysterious. Is there some kind of driver that should be installed?

try to use /dev/rmt/tps1d3nr instead of /dev/tape or /dev/nrtape

There are no tape drivers in IRIX (except APD which doesn't concern you),
but you may want to take a look here:

/var/sysgen/master.d/scsi
(on my box, it seems to only support HP DAT C5683A - which seems to be the DDS20/40.)

This file contains some definitions on how to talk to tape drives, their capabilities etc..

Can you also run:

scsicontrol -i /dev/scsi/*

and show us the output?

_________________
[click for links to hinv] JP: [ :Fuel: :Octane2: :O2: :Indy: ] PL: [ :Fuel: ]
For Sale: 2*O200 M/B, 2*O200 PSU, 6*256MB O200 RAM, 2*O200 SCSI Backplane, 2*O200 MSC, DMediaPro DM-2 ( 030-1653-002 Rev. H , XT-DIGVID) with Octane XIO pull (Origin pull optionally available)

scaramanga 3# scsicontrol -i /dev/scsi/*
/dev/scsi/sc0d1l0: Disk SEAGATE ST336704LC 0004
ANSI vers 3, ISO ver: 0, ECMA ver: 0; supports: 16bit synch linkedcmds cmdqueing
Device is ready
/dev/scsi/sc0d2l0: Disk FUJITSU MAJ3091MC 0113
ANSI vers 4, ISO ver: 0, ECMA ver: 0; supports: 16bit synch linkedcmds cmdqueing
Device is ready
/dev/scsi/sc0d4l0: CD-ROM TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-5401TA3605
ANSI vers 2, ISO ver: 0, ECMA ver: 0; supports: reladdr synch linkedcmds
Device is not ready

/dev/scsi/sc1d3l0: Tape HP C5683A C305
ANSI vers 3, ISO ver: 2, ECMA ver: 0; supports: 16bit synch