| 23 | Look at tape management: |
| 24 | |
| 25 | "Bill R. Williams" <brw_at_etsu.edu> |
| 26 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 27 | FWIW: I seen problems with other platform/backup-software wherein the |
| 28 | backup was to tape and verify was attempted. (I won't mention names. :-) |
| 29 | |
| 30 | ANYWAY, my rule of thumb regarding use of tape devices is : |
| 31 | mt -f $TAPE status |
| 32 | I can check $? to see if it at least can "see" the |
| 33 | device. |
| 34 | mt -f $TAPE rewind |
| 35 | I can check $? to see if it can operate the device, |
| 36 | and this will cause a "wait" until the device is |
| 37 | ready. |
| 38 | This also always assures me that my $TAPE is at the beginning. |
| 39 | For those of ye saying, "Well, duh!" |
| 40 | Let me just say: NEVER presume that your tape is at the beginning! |
| 41 | There are devices which allow use of TAPE with NO-REWIND-ON |
| 42 | open/close. |
| 43 | Other *opinions* of note: |
| 44 | * I always set my tape device to blocksize=0 which means |
| 45 | variable-blocks. |
| 46 | * I always write the biggest blocksize to tape that I can. The |
| 47 | bigger the tape block and the faster the read/writes plus the |
| 48 | more efficient use of the physical media. IOW: You get more |
| 49 | data on the tape with bigger blocks. |
| 50 | Of couse these come from the "old school" and have served me well even |
| 51 | up through the new LTO devices. |
| 52 | (Yes, I have seen open-spool tape run off the end of the reel. Go |
| 53 | ahead and laugh. ...was never funny at the time. :-) |
| 54 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 55 | |