Ever Got A Bad Batch Of Lto Tapes?

[oslomike]

I have encountered two tapes (from the same batch) that exhibit a problem writing data. Each tape has it's own place where the error occurs. I have tried erasing the tapes but there is still the problem with writing. I have run diagnostics on the drives and updated the firmwares and so on, but everything is OK. So I doubt it's a hardware problem.

 

Is this unusual, just bad luck or does it happen?

 

Thanks.

Mike

[twickland]

I have encountered two tapes (from the same batch) that exhibit a problem writing data. Each tape has it's own place where the error occurs. I have tried erasing the tapes but there is still the problem with writing. I have run diagnostics on the drives and updated the firmwares and so on, but everything is OK. So I doubt it's a hardware problem.

 

Is this unusual, just bad luck or does it happen?

We use Sony- and HP-branded LTO-3 tapes and have never had a problem we would attribute to the tape itself.

 

If, after you erase the tape, it again fails at the same location (and, as you no doubt are aware, it's hard to confirm the exact same location), that would be suggestive of a problem with the tape itself. However, it would not tell you whether the tape was defective out of the box or instead was damaged in some way by the drive.

 

[19bd3e5d-4ebe-42bf-94cf-8beab90be175]

We use Sony- and HP-branded LTO-3 tapes and have never had a problem we would attribute to the tape itself.

 

If, after you erase the tape, it again fails at the same location (and, as you no doubt are aware, it's hard to confirm the exact same location), that would be suggestive of a problem with the tape itself. However, it would not tell you whether the tape was defective out of the box or instead was damaged in some way by the drive.

 

 

I had a Quantum Superloader LTO-4 tape drive fail. At first I thought I had bad batches of tapes, because they'd accept about 100GB before playing up. Some tapes seemed to work. Seemed to be about 1 in 5 failing. Eventually I got the tape drive replaced and the tapes that didn't work before now work. Problem hasn't returned since.