jackvr Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Mac, OsX 10.4.11, Retrospect 6.1.230, Sony AIT-2 SDX-520c. I just bought some old tapes (HP Q1998A) most likely used on Windows platform. It will see the tape. "Unrecognized Format" I erase. Backs up a bit then get dirty head error. Then goes downhill. Will not load. Crashes Retrospect and eventually crashed the entire system. Is it not possible to use tapes formatted for other devise, platform etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Yes it is, if you erase them first. Sounds like the "old tapes" that you bought are bad. Isn't your data worth the small price of new tapes? If not, then don't bother to do backups. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted September 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I did just order new as well. Thanks. But seems odd that all (6 so far) recycled tapes would work fine for 5 gigs or so and then fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennart_T Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Do you always backup the same data to all the tapes? Try another source as well, just to be sure it isn't a bad file or a bad hard drive directory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted September 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Thanks for that. I switched to a different drive. Same computer. Same result. Will have new tapes and new cleaning tape coming soon. I will run the cleaner and then load new tape and see if that solves the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 I switched to a different drive. Same computer. Same result. Switched to a different Source for backup? Or switched to a different tape drive? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Just as a thought because you have not provided any information, what interface technology is used to interface the tape drive to the computer? If it's SCSI, what HBA (SCSI card) are you using? Firmware and driver versions? What Macintosh? Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted September 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Thanks. Here is what I see: Mac is a Dual 2.7 GHz PowerPC G5. Use firewire to connect the Sony AIT drive. 400 Mb. The firmware version for the drive is 5.06. Retrospect driver is 6.1.15.101. The AIT-2 drive is a Lacie 1394 but shows as a Sony AIT-2 SDX-520c. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 Ok, that eliminates the incompatible SCSI HBA possibilty. There's a possibility that it could be a firewire chip issue, but you seem to have eliminated that possibility by trying a different drive. I'm clueless. But it doesn't seem to be a Retrospect issue, seems to be something further out in the hardware chain. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted September 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 To test that I also hooked up using USB. Same results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twickland Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 Jack, you never did answer Dave's question about whether you tried backing up using a different tape drive. If you didn't, the tape drive assembly would be the obvious place to suspect at this point. Have you spoken to LaCie tech support about this problem? We have had problems in the past with LaCie assemblies, including poor solder connections in the enclosures and faulty power supplies. You mention a system crash. What happened: a freeze, kernel panic, what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted September 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 I only have the one tape drive. I think Lacie quit selling this unit quite awhile ago and they are not much help. I had trouble with it a year or so ago and sent out to have it rebuilt. Has been fine since then. The trick here is that I only have trouble with the used tapes that had been formatted for other software. New tapes that I use read and write correctly. I also use Retrospect to burn DVD archives and that also works fine. Not sure what type of crash. The one where your screen turns dark and it tells you to restart the computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 The one where your screen turns dark and it tells you to restart the computer. If it does so in multiple languages, then it's a kernal panic. You might find some info in the system log, but such behavior is almost always hardware/hardware-driver related. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted October 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 Yes, was the kernal panic. I just got a new set of blank tapes. Tried one. It also errors. Dirty head warning. I'll replace the driver. Any way to test the hardware short of sending away? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 Any way to test the hardware short of sending away? See the Sony tape tool: Sony tape tool (including for Mac OS X) Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted October 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 Thanks. I ran the -w script. Got through a write and a read and then got a Media Error. Did same several times with new or old tapes. After the media error it looses track of the device (if you run the probe again). I ran head cleaner. Also getting a new cleaner just to be sure. My guess is that is not the problem. It seems to consistently work for awhile, then not. When using retrospect it will put 1 gig on the tape and then get the media error. I tried using both a firewire 400 connection and a USB connection just to see if that mattered. Did not. Any thoughts, or should I give up on this drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twickland Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 Since the drive manufacturer's tool indicates problems, you really have only two options: send the unit out for repair or trash and replace it. If you choose the repair option, I'd recommend that you not go to LaCie, but use an independent vendor. If the estimated cost for repairs exceeds 30% of the cost of a new drive, I'd also say forget it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 Any thoughts, or should I give up on this drive? It's unclear from the history in this thread whether you tried updating the firmware in the drive. The firmware is on the same page as the Sony diagnostic - you might try that, perhaps error recovery routines have been improved. That's about the best I can suggest. If you are getting the issues with the Sony test tool, well, you have to get past that point before you can expect Retrospect to be happy because Retrospect wants you to have error free data before it will let you trust the backup set. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted October 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2008 I did not update the firmware. It seems to be v100 which looks like the current version. I'm a little afraid to try. I have lots of tapes that still function (read) and don't want to upset that. Thanks everyone for the assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackvr Posted October 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 Did get new head cleaner. No difference. It is $325 to fix drive (www.pacificdatastorage.com). I've done that once before and worked for a year. Just does not seem stable to me. Spent way to much time trying to figure out what is going on. Anyone else see these devices as fragile? I'm now pondering giving up the tape drive setup and investing in big hard drives to mirror our live data. Have around 10 TB of data in the "in progress" category. Lots of big graphic and video files, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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