The other item to consider is whether the vendor's tape is of the MRS (Media
Recognition System) type.  I remember that when we changed to DDS2 drives we
got a similar error during our backup.  It turned out that a non MRS Sony
tape was somehow 'mixed' in with our HP tapes that were used in our backup
cycle.  The tape had already been cycled trough several times using our DDS
drives but failed the first time that it was used on our DDS2.

Paul

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Help W/DDS-2 Tape Drive -Reply
Author:  John Clogg <[log in to unmask]> at CCGATE
Date:    02/05/98 15:11


No, shorter tapes aren't a problem, but the opposite (putting a longer tape
in a drive designed for shorter ones) is.  It's probably just a bad tape, or
maybe a dirty drive.

>>> Therm-O-Link <[log in to unmask]> 02/05/98
02:35pm >>>
Everytime I think this new 918 is slicker than a greased pig,
along comes another little gotcha!  This time it's the DDS-2
tape drive.  We run a well-known payroll application on the
918 and the vendor of the package creates a reel-to-reel
tape file of our W2 information for the SSA.  We send the
vendor a DAT tape and they convert it (for a fee, of course!).

This year we created the tape on the DDS-2 tape drive (instead
of the old DDS(-1) drive (1.3GB) on the old HP3K.  Naturally,
compression was enabled on this drive and the vendor can't
read the tape we created.  So, I said to myself (I often
talk to myself after a string of 12-hour days), no problem!
We'll just disable compression with DEVCTRL and cut a new
tape.  To make it even more compatible, I'll use one of
the vendor's tapes that they used to send me an update
with (60M).  Well, here's what happens when I tried it:

:DEVCTRL.MPEXL.TELESUP 7 COMPRESSION=DISABLE
Device = 7, Compression=DISABLE, Eject=Nochange, Load=Nochange


END OF PROGRAM
:FILE T;DEV=TAPE;REC=-276,10,F,ASCII
:FCOPY FROM=W2TAPE.PUB.TPRL;TO=*T
HP31900A.05.02 FILE COPIER (C) HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. 1990

DISPLAY FILE INFORMATION (Y OR N) ?Y
I/O ERROR  (FSERR 69)

+-F-I-L-E---I-N-F-O-R-M-A-T-I-O-N---D-I-S-P-L-A-Y+
!  FILE NAME IS T                                !
!  FOPTIONS: NEW,ASCII,FORMAL,F,NOCCTL,FEQ       !
!            NOLABEL                             !
!  AOPTIONS: OUTKEEP,NOMR,NOLOCK,DEF,BUF,NOMULTI !
!            WAIT,NOCOPY                         !
!  DEVICE TYPE: 24     DEVICE SUBTYPE: 7         !
!  LDEV: 7        DRT: 7         UNIT: 0         !
!  RECORD SIZE: 276    BLOCK SIZE: 2760  (BYTES) !
!  EXTENT SIZE: 0      MAX EXTENTS: 0            !
!  RECPTR: 0           RECLIMIT: 0               !
!  LOGCOUNT: 406          PHYSCOUNT: 41          !
!  EOF AT: 0           LABEL ADDR: %00000000000  !
!  FILE CODE: 0        ULABELS: 0                !
!  FILE OWNER:                                   !
!  PHYSICAL STATUS: 1000000100000001             !
!  ERROR NUMBER: 69    RESIDUE: 1380     (WORDS) !
!  BLOCK NUMBER: 41           NUMREC: 10         !
+------------------------------------------------+
EOF FOUND IN FROMFILE AFTER RECORD 405

406 RECORDS PROCESSED *** 1 ERROR


Now, it so happens that this file has 406 records in it
(according to the EOF):

:LISTF W2TAPE.PUB.TPRL,2
THU, FEB  5, 1998,  4:20 PM

ACCOUNT=  TPRL        GROUP=  PUB

FILENAME  CODE  ------------LOGICAL RECORD-----------  ----SPACE----
                  SIZE  TYP        EOF      LIMIT R/B  SECTORS #X MX

W2TAPE            276B  FA         406      10000  10      688  1 32


So, what is the problem here?  Any ideas?  Personally, I
think it's because the DDS-2 tape drive doesn't like anything
but 120M tapes (well, it might make an exception for a 90M
tape).  What do you think?

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]      Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: (330) 527-2124                   P. O. Box 285
  Fax: (330) 527-2123                   Garrettsville, Ohio  44231