Hi Jim thanks for the detailed response. I don't have access to the machine until alter this afternoon. I will go through your list then. >From memory, the Tape drive is NOT detected but the scsi adapter is and the module is loaded. I'll try some options later and come back to you. regards Cyril > 1) Check the boot logs. If the tape drive is detected, you should see > something like st: Version 20040318, fixed bufsize 32768, s/g segs 256 > Attached scsi tape st0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 4, lun 0 > st0: try direct i/o: yes (alignment 512 B), max page reachable by HBA > 1048575 > > In the above example, the tape drive is on device 'st0'. Yours may differ. > Do some research on the difference between the 'st0' and 'nst0' devices and > when you want to use each. > > 1a) If the tape drive is not detected, did you see the SCSI adapter load? > You will probably need an entry in /etc/modprobe.conf that identifies the > type of SCSI adapter. For example, if you have one of the popular Adaptec > controllers, you should have an entry like "alias scsi_hostadapter > aic7xxx". Substitute your adapter name for the aic7xxx as appropriate. > > After defining the adapter, type 'modprobe scsi' as root. You should see > the SCSI adapter scan for attached devices and display the results. You can > 'cat /proc/scsi/scsi' to review later. > > 2) Insert a tape and see what happens. Lights should come on the tape drive > and the tape will rewind. > > 3) Try the 'mt' command. This command gives you the ability to control the > tape from the command line. Try erasing, rewinding, or the rewoffl command > that rewinds and ejects the tape, > > If all that works, then select a backup method and start using it. I use > the extremely simple 'tob' program. Someone on the list is bound to > recommend their favorite utility. > > -- > Jim Kaufman > Linux Evangelist > public key 0x6D802619 > http://www.linuxforbusiness.net
