> They passed the rewind - write EOF test. Is there something I should try > to make them usable again (a test/format of sorts) or is the Bacula error > indication sufficient that I should just pull them from service?
Normally LTO tapes don't get write errors as the drive rewrites any failed blocks automatically, so all you see is your write speeds dropping and in bad cases the total capacity of the tape decreasing. Best thing would be to run the diagnostic utility from your tape drive manufacturer, as these are extremely detailed and will tell you whether the tape is at fault or if it's an issue with the drive. Not sure about the IBM utility but the HP one will let you test individual tapes to confirm they are good and will even let you pull the log files from the drive that the firmware writes, which can be quite useful in diagnosing a fault. (It was here I found messages about the head not moving the expected distance which led me to disassemble a failing LTO5 drive[1] to clean the head mechanism and get the drive back in service). I'm assuming you've done the obvious and used a cleaning tape recently of course. Cheers, Adam. [1]: Just in case anyone is curious, I took photos of the disassembly and repair process: http://sbfmdrv.blogspot.com/2018/11/disassembling-and-cleaning-lto-tape.html _______________________________________________ Bacula-users mailing list Bacula-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users
