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-
-
-
-Ftape-HOWTO
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!!Ftape-HOWTO
-
-!!Claus-Justus Heine,
-<heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>v3., August 1998
-
-
-----
-''This HOWTO discusses essential do's and dont's for the ftape
-floppy tape driver under Linux. It focusses on the newest version
-which is ftape-4.02 at the time of this writing. This HOWTO is to
-be intended as first step help and source of information.
-The ftape driver interfaces to QIC-40, QIC-80, QIC-3010 and
-QIC-3020 compatible drives, and to the Iomega Ditto 2GB and Ditto Max
-drives. The QIC-3010 and QIC-3020 standards are also known as
-`Travan' (TR-2 and TR-3). These drives connect via the floppy disk
-controller (__FDC__) which may be either an internal FDC or inside of
-certain parallel port floppy tape drives. Please refer to the section
-Supported drives for further
-information.
-ftape __does not__ cover SCSI or QIC-02 tape drives. DAT tape
-drives usually (always?) connect to a SCSI controller.
-This is but one of the Linux HOWTO documents. You can get an index of
-the HOWTOs from
-the Linux HOWTO index, while the real HOWTO's can be fetched (using
-ftp) from sunsite.unc.edu:pub/Linux/doc/HOWTO (this is
-the ``official'' place) or via the World Wide Web from
-the Linux Documentation Project home page.''
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!1. Legalese
-
-
-
-
-!!2. Revision History
-
-
-
-
-!!3. The preliminaries
-
-
-*3.1 Other sources of information
-
-*3.2 Contacts
-
-*3.3 What is ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-!!4. Getting and installing ftape
-
-
-*4.1 Getting ftape
-
-*4.2 Differences between ftape-2.x, ftape-3.x and ftape-4.x versions
-
-*4.3 Installing the driver with v2..x and earlier kernels
-
-*4.4 Installing the driver with v2.1.x and later kernels
-
-*4.5 Following the development of the ftape driver
-
-*4.6 Mixing ftape and floppies
-
-
-
-
-
-!!5. The Care and Feeding of Tape and Tape Drives
-
-
-*5.1 Formatting
-
-*5.2 Retensioning
-
-*5.3 Drive Cleaning
-
-*5.4 Repairing de-spooled cartridges
-
-
-
-
-
-!!6. Hardware support
-
-
-*6.1 Supported tape drives
-
-*6.2 Supported special controllers
-
-*6.3 Unsupported tape drives
-
-*6.4 Using an external tape drive with ftape
-
-*6.5 PCI motherboards and ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7. Backing up and restoring data
-
-
-*7.1 Writing an archive to a tape
-
-*7.2 Restoring an archive
-
-*7.3 Testing the archive
-
-*7.4 Putting more than one backup on a tape
-
-*7.5 Appending files to an archive
-
-*7.6 Mount/unmounting tapes
-
-
-
-
-
-!!8. Creating an emergency boot floppy for ftape
-
-
-
-
-!!9. Frequently Asked Questions
-
-
-
-
-!!10. FAQ: "Compiling and installing Ftape" related questions !
-
-
-*10.1 What Ftape version should I use?
-
-*10.2 I'm having problems getting my XYZ drive to run under the 2..xx kernel with the built-in driver. How do I fix this?
-
-*10.3 I'm running Linux/SMP and the system just freezes when trying to access the Ftape devices!
-
-*10.4 Why does depmod complain about "undefined symbols"?
-
-*10.5 "insmod" says the kernel version is wrong
-
-*10.6 "insmod" says that kernel 1.2.0 and 1.2.0 differ
-
-*10.7 Trying to compile Ftape gives me the error "modversions.h: no such file or directory"
-
-*10.8 What is this versioned symbols stuff anyway?
-
-*10.9 I seem to be getting sftape instead of zftape. When I run "ftmt status" command, I get output that the Ftape docs says corresponds to sftape ( /dev/qft0: Invalid argument ). Why?
-
-*10.10 My Ditto DASH/FC-20/Exabyte Accelerator card works under Microsoft Windows, but I get a drive not found type of error in /var/log/messages when trying to use it under Linux.
-
-*10.11 Ftape DMA transfers gives ECC errors
-
-*10.12 Help! I'm getting 'dmaalloc() failed' in my syslog file.
-
-*10.13 Syslogd works overtime when running Ftape
-
-*10.14 How do I change the trace-level?
-
-*10.15 I'm having problems with Ftape. I'm using the latest version of Ftape from the Ftape Home Page and believe that I've located a real bug. What should I do?
-
-
-
-
-
-!!11. FAQ: "Using Ftape" related questions !
-
-
-*11.1 How fast is Ftape ?
-
-*11.2 When I write to some of my tapes, they seem to spend a lot of time "shoe-shining," or repositioning instead of streaming. Is something wrong with my system?
-
-*11.3 Do I have to reboot to the DOS world to format tapes?
-
-*11.4 Is it possibly to format Ditto 2GB tapes with ftape?
-
-*11.5 Is it possibly to format Ditto Max or Max Pro tapes with ftape?
-
-*11.6 Ftape detects more bad sectors than DOS on QIC-3020 tapes
-
-*11.7 Is it ok that I'm not hearing the tape move when I do a fsf or a bsf with mt?
-
-*11.8 Why does my XYZ backup program complain about "Invalid argument" errors?
-
-*11.9 I/O errors and FDC - some explanations.
-
-*11.10 Why do I get "/dev/qft0: No such device" errors?
-
-*11.11 I get "device busy" when I make multiple backups on a tape using some script.
-
-*11.12 How do I "..." with tar?
-
-*11.13 What block-size should I use with tar ?
-
-*11.14 Where can I find the tar/mt/cpio/dd binaries - sources - manpages?
-
-*11.15 If I use tapers compression, is it a bad idea to use the compression with zftape, or would it be better to not use tapers compression, and let zftape do it?
-
-*11.16 How does zftape compression compare to say gzip -9?
-
-*11.17 I don't trust compression, but hear that the sftape interface is going away. What should I do?
-
-*11.18 Ftape says "This tape has no 'Linux raw format"
-
-*11.19 Can I exchange tapes with someone using DOS?
-
-*11.20 How does `mt eom' work when you've started overwriting a tape in the middle?
-
-*11.21 When I made backups before using taper, under the 2..29 ftape my drive didn't support fsf, under the new zftape it does, why would this be, and what exactly is fsf ?
-
-*11.22 What exactly is the difference between ftape, and zftape?
-
-*11.23 What is the difference between a rewinding, and non rewinding drive?
-
-*11.24 Can someone tell me how to use mt to rewind my TR-3 drive one record using zftape record, so I can verify it?
-
-*11.25 By non-rewinding, they mean that it doesn't automatically rewind, correct? It doesn't mean that under no circumstances it will rewind, right? I tried using /dev/zqft0, and it instantly rewinds the tape.
-
-*11.26 What is the difference between what mt considers a record and what it considers a file?
-
-*11.27 Reusing tapes with zftape without reformatting the tape.
-
-*11.28 This script implements a simple contents listing for the zftape package using the "MTIOCVOLINFO" ioctl.
-
-
-
-
-
-!!12. FAQ: "Tape and Drivers" related questions !
-
-
-*12.1 What are good makers of Travan tapes?
-
-*12.2 Where can I obtain the QIC standards?
-
-*12.3 Is the Iomega Ditto 2GB drive supported?
-
-*12.4 Is the Iomega Ditto Max drive supported?
-
-*12.5 Is the Iomega Ditto Max Pro drive supported?
-
-
-
-
-
-!!13. FAQ: Miscellaneous !
-
-
-*13.1 How to subscribe to the Ftape Mailing List?
-
-*13.2 How to un-subscribe from the Ftape Mailing List?
-
-*13.3 Links to related information.
-
-
-
-
-
-!!14. Debugging the ftape driver
-
-
-*14.1 The kernel/ftape crashes on me when I do `...' - is that a bug?
-
-*14.2 OK, it's a bug ...ehhh... feature - How do I submit a report?
-
-
-
-
-
-!!15. Contributions
-----
-
-!!1. Legalese
-
-
-
-
-
-The Linux ftape-HOWTO may be reproduced and distributed in whole or in
-part, subject to the following conditions:
-
-
-
-
-
-Copyright (c) 1993-1996 by Kai Harrekilde-Petersen
-Email: khp@dolphinics.no
-Copyright (c) 1996-1997 by Kevin Johnson
-Email: kjj@pobox.com
-Copyright (c) 1998 by Claus-Justus Heine
-Email: heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de
-
-
-
-
-The Linux ftape-HOWTO is a free document; you may reproduce and/or
-modify it under the terms of version 2 (or, at your option, any later
-version) of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
-Software Foundation.
-
-
-This HOWTO is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
-WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
-General Public License for more details.
-
-
-The author encourages wide distribution of this document for personal
-or commercial use, provided that the above copyright notice remains
-intact and the provisions of the GNU General Public License are
-adhered to. The summary is that you may copy and distribute this
-document free of charge, or for a profit. No explicit permission is
-required from the author for reproduction of this document in any
-medium, physical or electronic.
-
-
-Note that derivative works and translations of this document must be
-placed under the GNU General Public License, and the original
-copyright notice must remain intact. If you have contributed new
-material to this document, you must make the source code (e.g., SGML
-source) available for your revisions. Please make revisions and
-updates available directly to the author: Contact
-heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de via Internet e-mail. This will allow the
-author to merge updates and provide consistent revisions to the Linux
-community.
-
-
-The author encourages distributors of Linux software in any medium to
-use the HOWTO as an installation and user guide. Given the copyright
-above, you are free to print and distribute copies of this document
-with your software. If doing so, you may wish to include a short
-``installation supplement'' for your release, or modify the relevant
-sections of this book to reflect your product.
-
-
-The author would like to know of any plans to publish and distribute
-this HOWTO commercially. In this way, we can ensure that you are kept
-up-to-date with new revisions. And, should a new version be right
-around the corner, you might wish to delay your publication of the
-HOWTO until it is available.
-
-
-If you are distributing this HOWTO commercially, donations, royalties,
-and/or printed copies are greatly appreciated by the author.
-Contributing in this way shows your support for free software and the
-Linux Documentation Project.
-
-
-If you have questions or comments, please contact the author at
-
-
-heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!2. Revision History
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-; __version 3.0 (August, 1998)__:
-
-
-
-
-* Additions to list of supported hardware.
-*
-
-* New section about differences between ftape versions.
-*
-
-* Pointers to the Ftape-FAQ and the Ftape manual.
-*
-
-* Updated to ftape-4.02.
-*
-
-* Additions to the FAQ.
-*
-
-* Update all URLs.
-*
-
-; __version 2.0 (March 15, 1997)__:
-
-
-
-
-* Updated to ftape v2.11 and v3.xx
-*
-
-* Lots of updates.
-*
-
-; __version 1.9 (September 20, 1996)__:
-
-
-
-
-* New maintainers of ftape and the HOWTO.
-*
-
-* A few minor formatting and spelling fixes.
-*
-
-* Updated for Linux v2..
-*
-
-* Started to integrate some of Andrew Martin's ftape info.
-*
-
-
-
-
-; __version 1.8 (May 22, 1996)__:
-
-
-
-
-* Copyright policy changed to GNU GPL v2
-*
-
-* The maintainer's email address has changed.
-*
-
-* Updated to ftape-2.08
-*
-
-* ftape is now a part of the kernel distribution.
-*
-
-; __version 1.7.1 (February 13, 1996)__:
-
-
-
-
-* Updated to ftape-2.06b
-*
-
-; __version 1.7 (January 28, 1996)__:
-
-
-
-
-* Updated to ftape-2.06 and modules-1.3.57
-*
-
-; __version 1.6.2 (January 23, 1996)__:
-
-
-
-
-* Connor TST3200R drive added
-*
-
-* Updated 2Mbps fdc information.
-*
-
-; __version 1.6.1 (January 16, 1996)__:
-
-
-
-
-* minor corrections
-*
-
-; __version 1.6 (January 10, 1996)__:
-
-
-
-
-* New maintainer of ftape
-*
-
-* updated to v2.05
-*
-
-* added new drives
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!3. The preliminaries
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!3.1 Other sources of information
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-; __ftape version 3__:
-
-ftape-3.x came with a manual of its own, which is contained in
-the ftape-3.04d package available from the usual places. See
-Getting Ftape.
-
-
-
-; __ftape version 4__:
-
-ftape-4.x also has a documentation package ftape-doc which
-is available from the usual places. This Ftape-HOWTO, however, also
-focusses on ftape-4.x and is meant as an entry point to the
-available documentation. See
-Getting Ftape.
-
-
-
-; __ftape-tools__:
-
-The ftape-tools package (including useful utilities for
-ftape) comes with its own manual. See
-Getting Ftape.
-
-
-
-; __Ftape-FAQ__:
-
-The Ftape-FAQ is included wordly in this manual, but more recent
-versions may be found at
-http://www.correct.nl/~ftape.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!3.2 Contacts
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The maintainer of the source for ftape is Claus Heine
-<heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>. He has a web page at
-http://www-math.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape/.
-
-
-If you have a problem or questions about ftape, try posting to the
-Linux Tape mailing list linux-tape@vger.rutger.edu (see
-Following the ftape development below). There
-also used to be a newsgroup that mirrored the mailing list traffic but
-it has vanished some time ago.
-
-
-I use ftape (it is my sole means of backing up on my linux box :-).
-I hesitate to make recommendations on what hardware to buy. See the
-section
-Supported drives and
-Unsupported drives for a list of supported
-and unsupported drives.
-
-
-You should try to post a summary of your problems and its solution(s),
-after you've got it working, even if you only got it partially
-working. Please also send a copy copy of your solution to the Linux Tape
-mailing list at
-<linux-tape@vger.rutgers.edu> so that it can be added to
-the HOWTO and/or the FAQ.
-
-
-If you receive this as part of a printed distribution or on a CD-ROM,
-please check out
-the Linux Documentation home page or ftp to
-ftp://sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/doc/HOWTO to see if there
-exists a more recent version. This could potentially save you a lot
-of trouble.
-
-
-If you email me, please include the string ftape in the subject
-line. This will help ensure the mail doesn't inadvertently get
-buried. But preferrably you should email to the Linux Tape mailing list
-at
-<linux-tape@vger.rutgers.edu> instead of contacting me
-directly.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!3.3 What is ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-ftape is a driver program that controls various low-cost tape
-drives that connect to the floppy controller.
-
-
-ftape is not a backup program as such; it is a device driver,
-which allows you to use the tape drive (just like the !SoundBlaster 16
-driver let you use your sound card) through the device files
-/dev/
[[n
]qft[[-3].
-
-
-ftape was originally written by Bas Laarhoven
-<bas@vimec.nl>, with ``a little help from his friends'' to
-sort out the ECC (Error Correcting Code) stuff. ftape is
-copyrighted by Bas under the GNU General Public License, which
-basically says: ``go ahead and share this with the world, just don't
-disallow other people from copying it further''.
-
-
-ftape has undergone several changes since then. While the
-Linux-2..x kernel series still contains ftape-2.08 the v2.1.x
-and soon the v2.2.* kernel series come with ftape-3.x (hopefully
-even with ftape-4.02, but this wasn't clear at the time of this
-writing) which differs in some points from the ftape-2.x driver.
-Since version 3.00 the ftape driver has been maintained by
-me (Claus-Justus Heine); it has been changed and improved in several
-respects and support for new hardware has been added.
-
-
-ftape is quite stable, and has been that for some time now. It
-is reliable enough for critical backups (but it's always a good idea
-to check your backups, so you won't get a nasty surprise some day).
-
-
-ftape supports drives that conform to the QIC-117 and one of the
-QIC-80, QIC-40, QIC-3010, and QIC-3020 standards as well as the Iomega
-Ditto 2GB and Ditto Max drives which no longer strictly conform to the
-QIC standards in all respects.
-
-
-ftape can drive floppy tape drives that connect to the internal FDC
-as well as certain parallel port floppy tape drives.
-
-
-ftape supports neither QIC-02, IDE (ATAPI), nor SCSI tape
-drives. SCSI drives are accessed as /dev/[[n]st[[-7] and are
-supported by the kernel through the SCSI drivers. If you look for
-help on SCSI tape drives, you should read the SCSI-howto.
-ATAPI tape drives are supported by the kernel since 1.3.46. See
-section
-Supported drives and
-Unsupported drives for a list of supported
-and unsupported drives.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!4. Getting and installing ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!! 4.1 Getting ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The v2..x versions of the kernel include version 2.08 of ftape I
-recommend, however, that you grab the latest version of the full source
-code package for ftape. It is a newer version, includes files that
-are not included in the kernel v2..X distribution, and includes much
-better documentation about how to install ftape.
-The v2.1.x and later versions of the kernel include the version 3.04
-of ftape.
-
-
-
-
-
-I recommend that you download the latest stable version of ftape
-which is 4.02 at the time of this writing and is available from
-
-
-
-http://www-math.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape/archives.html
-
-as well as from
-
-
-
-ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes/.
-
-
-You probably should also grab the ftape-doc and the
-ftape-tools package that are available from the same locations.
-
-
-If you still want to use the ftape-2.08 which is shipped with the
-v2..x kernels, then you get a version of the driver which is really
-out of date and doesn't support QIC-3020 tapes at 2Mbps correctly,
-neither does it support the Ditto 2GB drives nor the Ditto Max drives
-nor any kind of parallel port tape drive. The section
-Supported drives
-gives detailed information about which version of the ftape driver
-supports which hardware.
-
-
-
-
-!!4.2 Differences between ftape-2.x, ftape-3.x and ftape-4.x versions
-
-
-
-
-
-
-ftape-3.x and ftape-4.x use the file system interface that
-was implemented for a branch release which was called
-zftape. Actually, the module that implements the __VFS__
-(Virtual File System) interface of ftape-3.x and
-ftape-4.x still is called zftape.o and its C-sources
-inside the kernel tree reside in
-[[/usr/src/linux/]drivers/char/ftape/zftape/.
-
-
-ftape-2.x (i.e. the version still contained in the v2..x kernel)
-uses another file system interface, that was implemented by
-ftape's original author Bas Larhoven.
-
-
-
-
-; __File Marks__:
-
-The conceptional difference between ftape-2.x and later versions
-of ftape is the way ''file marks'' are implemented.
-
-
-''Floppy tape devices'' don't have real file marks.
- __File
-marks__ are used to distinguish different backup sets if you write
-multiple backup sets to a tape. SCSI and QIC-150 tapes have
-''real'' file marks, i.e. between two different backup sets there
-is a region on the tape that is written special data to so that the
-drive logic can detect that marker when the tape is wound with
-(possibly) high speed over those file marks.
-Because the goal
-of ftape's file system interface was from the beginning on to
-provide an interface that could be used with standard Unix-like tape
-utilities (i.e. mt) the developers of ftape started to
-emulate file marks by storing the positions on the tape where a file
-mark should be located in certain fields of the header
-segments.
-__header segments__ refers to a region at the
-beginning of the tape sized two times 29k to hold some important
-information about the tape format and size and some status
-information.
-
-
-However, the QIC standards already designate a special region to
-store such information in, the so called __volume table
-segment__. Since ftape-3.x this ''volume table segment'' is used
-instead of using unused data fields in the header segment. As a result
-it is possible to use your tape cartridge with different operating
-systems in the sense that your Win or DOS backup program will realize
-that certain regions of the tape cartridge are already occupied with
-data, and ftape-3.x and later will detect the regions used by
-those DOS and Win programs. However, you can't extract a DOS backup
-set under Linux or extract a volume written by ftape under DOS,
-safe you write your own software to do that.
-
-
-
-; __IOCTL interface__:
-
-There are certain differences in the __IOCTL__
-This ''IO
-control'' interface is used by e.g. mt to rewind the tape or skip
-to the next file mark or do any other tape operation.
-interface between ftape-2.x and ftape-3.x and later. A
-detailed description can be found in the ftape-manual contained
-in the ftape-doc package. See
-Getting Ftape.
-
-
-
-; __Formatting__:
-
-Formatting of cartridges is supported with ftape-3.x and later
-__only__. Please get the ftape-tools package that contains the
-ftformat program that interfaces to the driver to format
-cartridges. See
-Getting Ftape. The
-ftape-tools package comes with (more or less) detailed
-documentation, so the case of formatting cartridges is not dealt with
-in this document.
-
-
-
-; __Compression__:
-
-ftape-3.x supported user transparent on-the-fly compression in
-software. This feature (or ''bug'') has vanished in ftape-4.x as
-it made further improvements concerning the realiability of backups
-very very hard. This means, ftape-4.x comes without compression
-support.
-
-
-However __de-compression__ of compressed archives produced with
-ftape-3.x __is__ supported in order not to brake existing backup
-programs where a user-level filter would not suffice to preserve
-compatibility. Think, e.g., of taper which calls the MTIOC
-ioctls itself instead of relying on the mt program to perform
-tape operations.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The ftape-manual contained in the ftape-doc package contains
-much more detailed information about ftape`s file system
-interface as well as implementation notes which by far exceed the
-scope of this HOWTO. See
-Getting Ftape for
-informations about where to obtain the manual.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!! 4.3 Installing the driver with v2..x and earlier kernels
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The following section provides some useful information to get you
-going with the installation of v4.x which is __not__ shipped with the
-kernel source tree yet but has to be downloaded separately, see the
-section
-Getting ftape above.
-
-
-Once you've downloaded the source code (probably
-ftape-4.02-tar.gz), untar it. You can do this by determining what
-directory you want the source code to be located in. I recommend
-/usr/src/ or ~/src. When the tar file is extracted,
-it will dump everything into a ftape-4.02 subdirectory, so that
-you'll end up, in the example I've given, with something like
-/usr/src/ftape-4.02 or ~/src/ftape-4.02.
-
-
-__NOTE:__ you cannot compile ftape-4.02 into your v2..x
-kernel. Instead, configure your kernel to __not__ compile the
-ftape driver and follow the installation instructions in the
-ftape-4.02 distribution and install ftape-4.02 as a module.
-
-
-Read the README file. The README is required reading. It's
-the top of the tree, so to speak. If there are specific files that
-the README tells you to read then read them. It will make the
-process much less complicated.
-
-
-Do NOT proceed with compiling the package until you have read the
-appropriate README files and the INSTALL file.
-
-
-Afterwards you need to edit the MCONFIG file and configure you
-package according to your hardware. The MCONFIG file contains lots
-of explanations so it should be fairly easy to go along with it.
-
-
-However, most of the hardware configuration can be done via setting
-parameters during module load time so most parameters specified in the
-file MCONFIG simply give the default configuration, but you don't
-need to recompile the driver to change IO addresses or interrupt
-settings. The file INSTALL and the file modules/insert
-contain examples how to specify the proper module parameters when
-loading the kernel modules, so I won't go into further detail
here.
-
-
-If you are using a Linux-v1.3.x kernel, you should consider moving to
-v2..x. v1.3.x was the development release prior to the production
-release v2..x.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!4.4 Installing the driver with v2.1.x and later kernels
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-__Comment__
-Maybe ftape-4.02 will be included into the v2.2.x kernel, but
-this isn't clear at the time of this writing. This HOWTO will be
-revised appropriately when this has become clear. So long you have to
-refer to the previous section
-Installing the driver with v2..x and earlier kernels and disregard the contents of
-this section.
-
-
-
-
-
-The Linux kernel v2.1.x and later already include ftape-4.x so you
-don't need to download the ftape-4.x kernel driver package.
-
-
-ftape-4.x as included in the v2.1.x versions of the kernel can be
-completely configured using the kernel configuration menus (either with
-make menuconfig or make xconfig. Also, there is online help
-available that documents each parameter setting which I won't repeat
-here.
-
-
-The various boot- and loadtime parameter settings are explained in the
-file
-
-
-[[/usr/src/linux/]Documentation/ftape.txt
-
-
-of the Linux-v2.1.x and later kernel distributions.
-
-
-
-
-!! 4.5 Following the development of the ftape driver
-
-
-
-
-
-
-If you want to follow the development of the ftape driver, you
-should subscribe to the Linux Tape mailing list
-linux-tape@vger.rutgers.edu. To do so you need to send an email
-saying `subscribe linux-tape' (''in the body'') to
-majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu. When you subscribe, you will be sent
-a greeting mail, which will tell you how to submit real mails and how
-to get off the list again. __Store this email in a safe
-place__. Please.
-
-
-Please note that I do not, repeat __DO NOT__, have any special
-powers with regard to this mailing list. If you're stuck on the list,
-don't bother to tell me that. I can only shrug and send you my
-sympathy (but that won't get you off the list).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!4.6 Mixing ftape and floppies
-
-
-
-
-
-
-If you use your floppy tape drive with the standard FDC then the floppy
-drive and the floppy tape drive cannot run concurrently as they share
-the same hardware, the FDC, and the floppy and the ftape
-driver do not talk to each other. Thus, if you have mounted a floppy
-and then try to access the tape drive, ftape will complain that it
-cannot grab IRQ6 and then die. This is especially a problem when
-designing a emergency disk for use with ftape. This solution is to
-either load the boot/root disk into a ramdisk and then unmount the
-floppy, or have two floppy drive controllers.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!5. The Care and Feeding of Tape and Tape Drives
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!5.1 Formatting
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Before a tape can be used, it must be formatted. The formatting
-process lays out sector information onto the tape. Other tape
-interfaces don't typically require formatting. The reason floppy
-tapes do is that they need to look like a floppy (kinda gross, but
-what the hey - it works :-).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!Can I format my tapes under Linux?
-
-
-
-
-
-Yes, you can, if you use ftape-3.04d or above. To format a floppy
-tape cartridge you need a user level tool called ftformat as well
-which is contained in the ftape-tools distribution (see section
-Getting ftape).
-
-
-The ftape-tools package comes with its own manual, so I do not need
-to repeat here how to use ftformat.
-
-
-
-
-!Which formatting programs can I use under DOS?
-
-
-
-
-
-The following are known to work:
-
-
-
-
-
-* Colorado Memory System's software (tape.exe)
-*
-
-* Conner Backup Basics v1.1 and all Windows versions
-*
-
-* Norton Backup
-*
-
-* QICstream version 2
-*
-
-* Tallgrass !FileSecure v1.52
-*
-
-* Escom Powerstream 3.0 (qs3.exe -- QICstream v3?)
-*
-
-
-
-These programs are known to be more or less buggy:
-
-
-
-
-
-* Conner Backup Basics 1.
-*
-
-* Colorado Windows tape program
-*
-
-* CP Backup (wastes tape space, but is OK apart from that)
-*
-
-
-
-As a general rule, most software under DOS should work. The Conner
-Backup Basics v1.0 has a parameter off by one (someone could not read
-the QIC-80 specs right!), which is corrected in version 1.1. However,
-ftape detects this, and will work around it. Dennis T. Flaherty
-(<dennisf@denix.elk.miles.com>) report that Conner C250MQ
-owners can obtain the new v1.1, by calling Conner at 1-800-4Conner (in
-the US) and ask for an upgrade (for a nominal fee for the floppy).
-The Windows versions should work fine. Some versions of Colorado's
-tape program for windows, has an off-by-one error in the number of
-segments. ftape also detect and work around that bug.
-
-
-Central Point Backup can be used, but it wastes precious tape space
-when it encounters a bad spot on the tape.
-
-
-NOTE: If you are running a formatting software under DOS, which is not
-mentioned here, please mail the relevant info to me (
-<heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>), so I can update the list.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!5.2 Retensioning
-
-
-
-
-
-
-QIC tapes are particularly sensitive to tape stretch. The reason is
-that floppy tapes are pre-formatted with sector information, whereas
-other tape types have their sync information written as the data is
-written to the tape. If the floppy tape stretches and the sync fields
-get out of sync the result will be read errors. The problem is worse
-with longer tapes.
-
-
-It is a good idea to retension new tapes a few times before using them
-and before formatting them. You should also try retensioning the tape
-if you are start getting read errors. It might also be a good idea
-retension the tape before a backup.
-
-
-
-
-!!5.3 Drive Cleaning
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The coating on the tape is an oxide compound. As the tape is dragged
-across the tape head it has a tendency to leave tiny amounts of
-residue on the head. You should periodically use a tape cleaner -
-following the specs for the drive in question. Tape cleaners should
-be available from any distributer of tapes.
-
-
-One more additional note about tape cleaning. You might want to clean
-the drive after the first use of a brand new tape. A brand new tape
-will typically leave quite a bit of residue the first time it's used.
-
-
-Thanks to
-Neal Friedman for the explanation and suggestion that this information be
-included in the HOWTO.
-
-
-
-
-!!5.4 Repairing de-spooled cartridges
-
-
-
-
-
-
-In rare occasions it can happen that the tape drive doesn't detect the
-__EOT__ (End Of Tape) markers correctly. These markers are simply
-holes in the tape which are detected by the tape drive with means of a
-little photo-transistor (or the like).
-
-
-The manual of your tape drive will probably give you proper hints how
-to clean those EOT detectors.
-
-
-However, if the EOT detection fails, then the tape drive despooles the
-cartridge because the tape isn't glued to the wheels, but hold by
-friction only.
-
-
-There are detailed instructions how to fix such a despooled tape at
-the Iomega WWW pages at
-
-
-
-http://www.iomega.com/support/techs/ditto/3006.html
-
-and at the Hewlett Packard WWW pages at
-
-
-
-http://www.hp.com/isgsupport/cms/docs/lpg12020.html
-
-If the pages shouldn't be in the exact locations as given above, then
-please try to browse a little bit through the web pages of HP or
-Iomega until you find the needed information.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!6. Hardware support
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!! 6.1 Supported tape drives
-
-
-
-
-
-
-All drives that are both QIC-117 compatible ''and'' one of the
-QIC-40, 80, 3010, and 3020 standards should work. QIC-WIDE and Travan
-drives are also supported (TR-1 is just QIC-80 with 8mm tapes, while
-TR-2 and TR-3 is a.k.a QIC-3010 and 3020 respectively). Iomega Ditto 2GB
-and Ditto Max drives are supported, too, though they no longer conform
-to the QIC standards in every respect. Some parallel port tape drives
-are supported as well.
-
-
-Some of the comments given below about possible problems with certain
-tape drives are very old, and I don't have access to all of the
-hardware, so I couldn't check everything.
-
-
-Some of the reports below have been commented by me
-(<heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>) like this:
-
-
-
-
-This is a comment.
-
-
-
-Currently, the list of drives that are known to work with
-ftape is:
-
-
-
-
-; __Alloy Retriever 250__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Archive 5580i, XL9250i__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Colorado DJ-10, DJ-20 (aka: Jumbo 120, Jumbo 250)__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Colorado 1400__:
-
-<kosowsky@bellini.harvard.edu> reported a problem doing a 1G
-backup using taper.
-
-
-
-; __Colorado Trakker parallel port tape drive__:
-
-
-
-
-Support added by Jochen Hoenicke
-<Jochen.Hoenicke@Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>.
-
-
-
-; __HP Colorado T1000__:
-
-
-
-The problem reports are probably totally out-dated. In particular, the
-zftape the people talk about doesn't exist any more, and the
-ftape driver is the very ftape-2.08.
-
-
-
-Works with 3M Travan 400M (TR-1) tapes with 120M tapes. Also reported
-that mt dies, but with backups using tar it works ok. With cpio,
-ftape is recommended rather than zftape.
-(<millner@millner.bevc.blacksburg.va.us>)
-
-
-Problems have been reported with the drive continually stopping and
-starting with zftape (<75104.1756@compuserve.com>). This appears
-to be a problem with the tape going too fast for the computer; the DMA
-buffers are getting flushed before getting filled again. Newer
-versions of zftape don't do this any more is a suitably fast backup
-program or large DMA buffers are used
-(<millner@millner.bevc.blacksburg.va.us>).
-
-
-
-; __Conner C250MQ(T)__:
-
-The 250Q is reported to generate write error and frequent
-repositioning. (Frank Stuess at Nacamar Data Communications)
-
-
-
-
-Write errors need not be caused by the tape drive, but also by bad
-tape cartridges. Frequent repositioning can be caused by bad
-cartridges, too, but can also be caused by overrun errors which would
-indicate that the FDC and DMA controller have problems to talk to each
-other.
-
-
-
-
-; __Conner TSM420R, TSM850R__:
-
-The 400 and 800 models only work with TR-1 tapes.
-
-
-
-
-I don't know whether it was meant that named drives doesn't work with
-ordinary 120MB DC-2120 cartridges, or that TR-3 tapes can't be
-read. The tape drives weren't designed for the latter. So what.
-
-
-
-
-; __Conner TST3200R__:
-
-Works with TR-3 tapes at 1Mbps (ie. 1600M capacity only). Wirks with
-QIC-WIDE 400M tapes (Sony 5122's?) (<chris@cs.wmich.edu>).
-Works with TR3, QIC-3010, and QIC-3020 tapes. Comes with a 2MB FDC
-which the Promise 2300+ 1Mbps controller works
-(<kjh@pollux.usc.edu>).
-
-
-Reported that the floppy disk can no longer read low-density floppies.
-May have to fiddle with IRQ/ports/dma channels
-(<chris@yakkocs.wmich.edu>).
-
-
-
-
-The TST3200R works well with ftape.
-
-
-
-
-; __Conner TST800R__:
-
-The TST800R works with TR-1, Sony QW5122F (210M) and DC2120 tapes.
-
-
-
-
-Works well with ftape since ftape-2.07 at least. Used it
-myself until the drive died with a melted transistor. Probably caused
-by over-heating it previously.
-
-
-
-
-; __Conner CTT3200__:
-
-
-
-
-The CTT3200 is supposedly identical to the Iomega Ditto 3200. It
-works with the supplied 2Mbps controller, but reported not to work
-under DOS on some machines. (<jmorris@dtx.net>)
-
-
-
-; __Conner 1.7G Tapestor (TSM1700R)__:
-
-
-
-
-Works with QIC-WIDE tapes (<pschmidt@slip.net>). Partially works
-with QIS-3200. Using the HSC-2 controller, the DMA channel needs to
-be changed (incremented by 1, channel2?, Modify the Makefile). You
-then need to modify the ftape Makefile to reflect this change.
-However, ftape seems to be a bit flaky with this (no version number
-supplied) (<ttait@tiac.net>). It may not work at 2Mbps
-(QIC-3020) with the HSC controller. The tape died with a messages
-like "dumb tape stop" and has since been unreliable
-(<ttait@tiac.net>).
-
-
-
-
-No recent informations available
-
-
-
-
-; __Escom or Archive (Hornet) 31250Q__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Exabyte EXB-1500__:
-
-Work with QIC-3010 tapes.
-
-
-
-; __Exabyte TR-3__:
-
-
-; __Irwin 80SX, Insight 80Mb__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Iomega 250__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Iomega Ditto Tape Insider 420, 1700__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Iomega Ditto Tape Insider 3200__:
-
-This is the unit, that I use. The default jumper settings don't work.
-Leave the irq and ioport address at the default (6 and 0x370,
-respectfully), but change the DMA from 3 to 2. (Kevin Johnson
-<kjj@pobox.com>).
-
-
-
-
-Refer to the file MCONFIG of recent ftape distributions for
-other suggestions for ioport, irq and DMA channel.
-
-
-
-May require the having {0x08882, 80, wake_up_colorado, "Iomega
-3200"}, added to vendors.h on older versions of ftape.
-
-
-Problems reported with ftape 2.07 and kernel 1.12.13. With all sorts
-of combinations of accelerator, etc, the drive may (on some systems)
-only be accessed once (<erwin@box.nl>). Also, after the first
-access, the next use of the tape says it is write protected
-(<erwin@box.nl>, <M.J.Ammerlaan@dutiwy.twi.tudelft.nl>).
-
-
-There has been one report of a problem where the tape got wound off
-the end of the spool.
-
-
-
-
-This may be caused by a dirty EOT sensor, and need not be a real
-hardware bug (except when it was a bug that dirtied the EOT sensor
-...)
-
-
-
-Another problem has been reported with writing archives (with dd) to
-the tape. It may start fine, but when the driver catches up with dd,
-it stops the tape and rewinds it to the beginning. Then it starts
-winding on through the tape ad infinitum. It appears to occur when
-the driver asks the tape to pause which should cause the tape to move
-back by 3 segments, but instead is moves back to the beginning of the
-tape. A bug fix submitted is reported to not solve the problem.
-
-
-
-
-Should have been fixed somewhere between ftape-3.00 and
-ftape-4.00. Unluckily, the fast-skipping facilities of all Iomega
-floppy tape drives are __really__ poor. Recent ftape versions
-work around this problem. I suggest getting the latest version of the
-ftape driver when you experience this problem.
-
-
-
-
-; __Iomega Ditto 800 Insider__:
-
-Works with Travan TR1, TR2, or DC2120 tapes
-(<klein@informatik.uni-rostock.de>).
-
-
-
-; __Iomega Ditto 2GB__:
-
-Support added by Jochen Hoenicke
-<Jochen.Hoenicke@Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> to ftape-3.xx
-and later.
-
-
-Can't format cartridges, writing is only possible with special Ditto
-2GB cartridges (hardware limitation, not a lacking feature of
-ftape).
-
-
-
-; __Iomega Ditto Max__:
-
-
-; __Iomega Ditto Max Pro__:
-
-Supported since ftape-4.00. Thanks to Tim Jones
-<tjones@estinc.com>.
-
-
-Can't format cartridges, writing is only possible with special Ditto Max
-cartridges (hardware limitation, not a lacking feature of ftape)
-
-
-I wasn't able to get the Ditto Max to work with any other device than
-/dev/[[n]qft0. I don't know whether this is a feature of the
-Ditto Max or the Ditto EZ controller I had plugged the Ditto Max into.
-
-
-
-__Comment__
-You don't need to buy a Ditto Max Pro to use the 5/10GB
-cartridges. With ftape there is no real difference between the
-Ditto Max and the Ditto Max Pro.
-
-
-
-; __Iomega Ditto 800/3200/2GB/Max/Max Pro Easy (parallel port)__:
-
-Supported since ftape-4.00 with the bpck-fdc FDC driver.
-
-
-
-; __Mountain FS8000__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Reveal TB1400__:
-
-
-
-
-Reported not to work with kernel 1.3.79 and ftape (no version given)
-or with kernel 1.2.13 and zftape 1.04
-(<colin@colina.demon.co.uk>).
-
-
-
-
-The mentioned ftape driver versions are out of date. If you still
-have such a beast try the more recent versions of the ftape
-driver.
-
-
-
-
-; __Summit SE 150, SE 250__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Tallgrass FS300__:
-
-If you have a Tallgrass FS300 and an AHA1542B, you need to increase
-the bus-on / bus-off time of the 1542B. Antti Virjo
-(<klanvi@uta.fi>), says that changing
-CMD_BUSON_TIME to 4 and CMD_BUSOFF_CMD to 12 in
-linux/drivers/scsi/aha1542.c will do the trick.
-
-
-
-; __Teac 800__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Memorex tape drive backup system__:
-
-
-
-
-
-; __Wangtek 3040F, 3080F__:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You can always check out the newest list of drives that are recognised
-by ftape, by looking in the file vendors.h in the ftape
-distribution.
-
-
-Although I do not want to endorse one drive type over another, it has
-been reported that the Colorado DJ-20 drive is rather noisy, when
-compared to, say, a Conner C250MQ drive ('tis said that the Colorado
-is 5-10 times as noisy as the Conner drive. Since I have neither, I
-can't tell for sure).
-
-
-
-
-If you have a drive that works fine, but it is not listed here, or if
-you have corrections to the above information, please send a mail to
-the HOWTO maintainer (<heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>).
-
-
-
-
-
-!!6.2 Supported special controllers
-
-
-
-
-
-
-These dedicated high-speed tape controllers are supported by
-ftape:
-
-
-
-
-
-* Colorado FC-10, FC-20
-*
-
-* Mountain MACH-2
-*
-
-* Iomega Tape Accelerator II
-*
-
-* 2Mbps controllers (using the i82078-1 fdc)
-*
-
-* Iomega Ditto EZ 4Mbps PnP controller
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-!Colorado FC-10, FC-20
-
-
-
-
-
-Support for the FC-10 controller has been merged into the ftape
-driver in version 1.12. See the RELEASE-NOTES and the
-Makefile files in the ftape distribution. Since of version
-2.03 of ftape, the FC-20 controller will work, but only at
-1Mbit/sec (check the Release notes!).
-
-
-
-
-!Mountain MACH-2
-
-
-
-
-
-The support for the MACH-2 controller was added in ftape-1.14d.
-
-
-
-
-!Iomega Tape Accelerator II
-
-
-
-
-
-To use the Iomega Tape Accelerator II (__not__ to be mistaken as the
-Iomega Ditto Dash!), use -DMACH2, and set the right settings for
-I/O base, IRQ and DMA. This works (by the empirical testing of Scott
-Bailey
-<sbailey@xcc.mc.xerox.com>), with at least
-ftape-2.02.
-
-
-
-
-!Iomega Ditto Dash and other 2Mbps controllers
-
-
-
-
-
-The Iomega Ditto Dash, and all other known 2Mbps controllers, use the
-Intel 82078-1 chip, which can run at 2Mbps. This is supported properly
-since ftape-3.00.
-
-
-
-
-!Iomega Ditto EZ PnP controller
-
-
-
-
-
-This controller requires the use of e.g. the isapnptools package to
-configure it. You may get it from
-
-
-
-http://www.roestock.demon.co.uk/isapnptools/
-
-The controller will cause too many overrun errors when used at the
-highest possible speed of 4Mbps. Neither Tim Jones
-<tjones@estinc.com> nor I <heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>
-have been able to find but a single system which could run the
-controller at 4Mbps. 3Mbps seems to be fine.
-
-
-If you configure the Ditto EZ to use DMA 2 (the DMA channel used by
-the floppy controller) then your floppy drive will no longer work. It
-doesn't help to disable the controllers DMA gate (as is the case with
-other hight speed controllers) so this can't be helped from inside
-ftape.
-
-
-
-
-!! 6.3 Unsupported tape drives
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-* Some parallel port floppy tape drives still not work. Others do.
-*
-
-* Irwin AX250L / Accutrak 250. (not a QIC-80 drive)
-*
-
-* IBM Internal Tape Backup Unit (identical to the Irwin AX250L drive)
-*
-
-* COREtape light
-*
-
-
-
-The Irwin AX250L (and the IBM Internal Tape Backup Unit) does not work
-the ftape. This is because they only support QIC-117, but
-not the QIC-80 standard (they use Irwin's proprietary ``servoe
-(Rhomat)'' format). I know nothing about the Rhomat format, nor where
-to get any info on it. Sorry.
-
-
-The COREtape light does not accept the initialisation commands, we're
-feeding it. This pretty much leaves the drive unusable.
-
-
-
-
-!!6.4 Using an external tape drive with ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-If you have a floppy controller which has a female DB37 connector on
-the bracket (and some means of delivering power to the drive), you can
-use it with ftape. OK, that sentence was not very
-obvious. Let's try it this way: Some FDC's (the very ancient one's),
-have a DB37 connector on the bracket, for connecting to external
-floppy drives.
-
-
-If you make a suitable cable from the DB37 connector (on the FDC) to
-your external tape drive, you can get ftape to control your tape
-drive.
-
-
-This is because that from a program's view there is no difference
-between the internal and the external connectors. So, from
-ftape's point of view, they are identical.
-
-
-
-
-
-* Pins 20-37: GROUND
-*
-
-* 1: +12 Volt (POWER)
-*
-
-* 2: +12 Volt return (GROUND)
-*
-
-* 3: +5 Volt return (GROUND)
-*
-
-* 4: +5 Volt (POWER)
-*
-
-* 5: 2
-*
-
-* 6: 8
-*
-
-* 7: 10
-*
-
-* 8: 12
-*
-
-* 9: 14
-*
-
-* 10: 16
-*
-
-* 11: 18
-*
-
-* 12: 20
-*
-
-* 13: 22
-*
-
-* 14: 24
-*
-
-* 15: 26
-*
-
-* 16: 28
-*
-
-* 17: 30
-*
-
-* 18: 32
-*
-
-* 19: 34
-*
-
-
-
-The power connector is of the "mini" type, sitting on 3.5" floppy
-drives. The idea appears to be that you plug one of the power
-connectors from the PSU to this connector on the board. If you want
-to use just a single cable, you might want to get a 50 wire cable, and
-use multiple wires for the power lines (and ground, for that matter).
-
-
-I have received no confirmation from anyone that this works. Let me
-know your results if you try it.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!! 6.5 PCI motherboards and ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Unfortunately, some PCI motherboards cause problems when running
-ftape. Some people have experienced that ftape would not
-run in a PCI based box, but ran flawlessly in a normal ISA based 386DX
-machine. If you have such a problem, please read the README.PCI
-file in the ftape distribution.
-
-
-
-
-A floppy disk controller needs the ISA bus DMA controller for its
-memory transfers. Seemingly the ISA DMA controller doesn't get
-control over the memory bus often enough on some PCI based systems.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!7. Backing up and restoring data
-
-
-
-
-
-This section describes some simple uses of tar and mt. Other
-examples can be found in the ftape-manual of the ftape-doc
-package. The ftape-tools contains some simple automated
-!DejaGnu
-Package for writing automated tests.
-test-suites. See section
-Getting ftape for
-informations about where to download those additional packages from.
-
-
-
-
-!! 7.1 Writing an archive to a tape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You can use `tar', `dd', `cpio', and `afio'. You
-will need to use `mt' to get the full potential of your tapes and
-the ftape driver. For a start I'd recommend using `tar', as
-it can archive lots of directories and let you pick out separate files
-from an archive. cpio creates smaller archives and is more
-generally more flexible than tar, but is missing some features
-like volume labels. `afio' creates backups where each file is
-compressed individually and then concatenated. This will allow you to
-access the files ``after'' the point of the error. If you use
-gzipped tar files, all data after the point of the error is
-lost! (to me, this is a pretty good reason for NOT using compression
-on backups). The choice of which is most appropriate depends on the
-situation and the features and malfeatures of each of the packages. I
-recommend taking a look at each package at reviewing the options that
-each provides. It's possible that this HOWTO may provide more detail
-on this subject at some point in the future.
-
-
-There are more links pointing to backup software at
-http://www-math.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape/ in the
-software section of that page.
-
-
-To make a backup of your kernel source tree using tar, do this
-(assuming you have the sources in /usr/src/linux):
-
-
-
-
-
-# cd /usr/src
-# tar cf /dev/ftape linux
-
-
-
-
-This will not compress the files, but gives you a smoother tape run.
-If you want the compression (and you've got tar 1.11.2), you
-just include the -z flag(*), eg: `tar czf /dev/ftape
-linux'
-
-
-For further instructions on how to use tar, dd and
-mt look at the man pages and the texinfo files that comes
-with the respective distributions.
-
-
-(*) tar assumes that the first argument is options, so the
-`-' is not necessary, i.e. these two commands are the same:
-`tar xzf /dev/ftape' and `tar -xzf /dev/ftape'
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7.2 Restoring an archive
-
-
-
-
-
-
-OK, let us restore the backup of the kernel source you made in section
-Writing an archive to a tape above. To
-do this you simply say
-
-
-
-
-
-tar xf /dev/ftape
-
-
-
-
-If you used compression, you will have to say
-
-
-
-
-
-tar xzf /dev/ftape
-
-
-
-
-When you use compression, gzip will complain about trailing
-garbage after the very end of the archive (and this will lead to a
-`broken pipe' message). This can be safely ignored.
-
-
-For the other utilities, please read the man page.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7.3 Testing the archive
-
-
-
-
-
-
-tar has an option (-d) for detecting differences between two
-archives. To test your backup of the kernel source say
-
-
-
-
-
-tar df /dev/ftape
-
-
-
-
-If you do not have the man page for tar, you are not lost (yet);
-tar has a built-in option list: try `tar --help 2>&1 | less'
-
-
-
-
-!!7.4 Putting more than one backup on a tape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-To put more than one backup on a tape you must have the mt
-utility. You will probably have it already, if you got one of the
-mainline distributions (eg. Slackware or Debian).
-
-
-Programs like tar and cpio generate a single Tape ARchive
-and know nothing about multiple files or positioning of a tape, it
-just reads or writes from/to a device. mt knows everything about
-moving the tape back and forth, but nothing about reading the data off
-the tape. As you might have guessed, combining tar or cpio
-with mt does the trick.
-
-
-By using the nqft[[-3] (nftape) device, you can use
-`mt' to position the tape the correct place (`mt -f
-/dev/nqft0 fsf 2' means step over two ``file marks'', i.e.
-tar files) and then use tar or cpio to read or write
-the relevant data.
-
-
-The most common use of the non-rewinding device is to append another
-backup to an existing tape. Here are the specific steps with a little
-explanation thrown in for good measure.
-
-
-
-
-
-* Insert a tape into the drive. On some devices this may cause
-the tape to be rewound.
-
-*
-
-* Issue an End-of-Tape command to the NON-rewinding device.
-
-
-mt -f /dev/n???? eof
-
-
-The tape should now be positioned at the End-of-Data (__EOD__). The
-tape won't move unless a program opens the device, closes the rewinding
-device, removes the device driver from kernel memory (rmmod) or ejects
-the tape. Using `mt eof' may be faster on QIC tapes.
-
-*
-
-* The next tape operation will start at the EOD mark. If you
-perform a write, it will append a new `file'. If you perform a read it
-will fail with EOF. The EOD mark on most tape formats is actually two
-consecutive EOF marks, however, since version 3.xx ftape uses the
-volume table as specified in the QIC-113 standard to emulate file
-marks, thus there aren't two consecutive file marks at EOD. Writing the
-EOF marks is handled by either the device driver or the hardware when a
-close() is performed.
-
-*
-
-* Here's where you write the actual data to the tape.
-
-*
-
-* Here's the important part. __Now rewind the tape__. Both
-ftape caches some information that belongs in the header segments
-on the tape and update those header segments __only when the tape is
-rewound__. This caching is necessary because rewinding the tape and
-updating the header segments takes a conspicuous amount of time. The
-drawback of this caching is that you will lose information if you have
-written to the tape and not rewound the device.
-
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7.5 Appending files to an archive
-
-
-
-
-
-
-``Is there a way to extend an archive -- put a file on the tape, then
-later, add more to the tape?''
-
-
-No. The tar documentation will tell you to use `tar -Ar',
-but it does not work. This is a limitation of the current ftape
-driver.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7.6 Mount/unmounting tapes
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Since a tape does not have a ``filesystem'' on it, you do not mount /
-unmount the tape. To backup, you just insert the tape and run your
-`tar' command (or whatever you use to access the tape with).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!8. Creating an emergency boot floppy for ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-__Comment__
-As of the time of this writing (August 1998) I remember that I have read
-about several emergency disk sets in the __c.o.l.a__
-(comp.os.linux.announce) news group since the time this section has
-been written. Some of those packages actually might produce rather
-sophisticated emergency boot floppy sets. Please check out yourself. I
-didn't try to create an emergency boot floppy with recent versions of
-ftape.
-
-
-
-
-
-This section was written by Claus Toslashndering
-<ct@login.dknet.dk>.
-
-
-Once you are the happy owner of a tape drive and several tapes full of
-backups, you will probably ask yourself this question: ``If everything
-goes wrong, and I completely lose my hard disk, how do I restore my
-files from tape?''
-
-
-What you need is an emergency floppy disk that contains enough files
-to enable you to boot Linux and restore your hard disk from tape.
-
-
-The first thing you should do is to read ``The Linux Bootdisk HOWTO''
-written by Graham Chapman
-<grahamc@zeta.org.au>. That document tells you almost
-everything you need to know about making an emergency floppy boot kit.
-The paragraphs below contain a few extra pieces of information that
-will make your life a bit easier when you follow Graham Chapman's
-procedures:
-
-
-
-
-
-* You don't really need /etc/init, /etc/inittab,
-/etc/getty, and /etc/rc.d/* on your floppy disk. If
-Linux doesn't find /etc/init, it will start /bin/sh
-on your console, which is fine for restoring your system. Deleting
-these files gives you extra space on your floppy, which you will
-probably need.
-*
-
-* Find a small version of /bin/sh. They are frequently
-available on the boot floppies that come with a Linux distribution.
-This again will give you extra space. I'd suggest ash, which
-is extremely small (approx 62Kbytes), and yet very bash
-compatible.
-*
-
-* The /etc/fstab you include on your floppy disk should look
-something like this:
-
-
-/dev/fd0 / minix defaults
-none /proc proc defaults
-/dev/hda /mnt ext2 defaults
-
-
-Once you have booted from your floppy, give the command:
-
-
-mount -av
-
-
-
-*
-
-* Make sure your floppy drive is not mounted when you access the
-streamer tape! Otherwise you may get the following error message:
-
-
-Unable to grab IRQ6 for ftape driver
-
-
-This means that you __MUST__ load the floppy into a RAMDISK.
-This has the unfortunate consequence that the programs needed to
-restore the files from the tape can not be located on a separate
-floppy disk. You have two options here:
-
-
-*# You place tar (or cpio or afio or
-whatever other backup program you use) on your root floppy
-disk. (This is where you'll need all the extra space created
-in the steps above.)
-*#
-
-*# Before you start restoring from tape, copy tar (or
-cpio or afio or whatever) to your hard disk
-and load it from there.
-*#
-
-
-*
-
-* Apart from your backup program, you will probably need mt on
-your root floppy as well.
-*
-
-* Make sure your ftape device (typically /dev/nqft0) is present
-on your boot floppy.
-*
-
-* Finally: __TRY IT OUT!__ Of course, I don't recommend that you
-destroy your hard disk contents to see if you are able to restore
-everything. What I do recommend, however, is that you try booting
-from your emergency disks and make sure that you can at least make a
-file listing of the contents of your backup tape.
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!9. Frequently Asked Questions
-
-
-
-
-
-
-__Comment__
-This is the literal inclusion of the Ftape Frequently Asked questions
-collection which is maintained by
-Johan De Wit <jo@correct.nl> and which may be viewed on the web at
-http://www.correct.nl/~ftape. As Linuxdoc SGML doesn't include
-sub-sub-sections into the table of contents, I have prepended the word
-FAQ to the sections of the original FAQ document.
-
-
-__This FAQ collection might be slightly out of data as it was
-collected while version 3.04d of the ftape driver was the newest
-one. If any answer given in the FAQ contradicts any other statement of
-this HOWTO, then please disregard the answer in the FAQ and drop me
-(<heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>) as well as the maintainer of the
-Ftape-FAQ (Johan De Wit <jo@correct.nl>) a note__
-
-
-
-
-
-You might encounter references to the following addresses while reading
-this document:
-
-
-
-
-
-*The maintainer of the Ftape FAQ :
-Johan De Wit <jo@correct.nl>
-*
-
-*The Ftape maintainer :
-Claus-Justus Heine <claus@momo.math.rwth-aachen.de>
-*
-
-*The Ftape Home Page :
-<http://www-math.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape/>
-
-*
-
-*Mirrors of the Ftape Home Page :
-
-
-
-<http://www.torque.net/ftape/>
-
-
-Thanks to
-Grant R. Guenther <grant@torque.net>
-
-
-<http://www.info-systems.com/ftape/>
-
-
-Thanks to
-Jakob Curdes <jc@info-systems.com>
-
-
-<http://www.newwave.net/~joshg/ftape/>
-
-
-Thanks to
-Josh Goins <joshg@newwave.net>
-
-
-
-*
-
-*The Ftape HOWTO :
-<http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO>
-
-*
-
-*The Ftape Mailing List :
-<linux-tape@vger.rutgers.edu>
-*
-
-
-
-There is surely quite a lot missing. Please feel free to improve this FAQ.
-The preferred way of doing this is to post to the
-Ftape Mailing List
-in case you have a question that isn't answered here.
-
-
-Also, if you are already reading the list regularly and have the impression
-that some questions occur again and again, feel free to send that question
-and possibly an answer in the format indicated below to the
-maintainer
-of the ''Ftape FAQ'' AND to
-Ftape Mailing List.
-
-
-If you make FAQ related postings, then please DON'T FORGET to prepend the
-word "__[[FAQ]__" to the subject of your posting. Please don't add the word
-"FAQ" to the subject if you post something that isn't related to the FAQ.
-
-
-That's all for now.
-
-
-
-Claus-Justus Heine.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!10. FAQ: "Compiling and installing Ftape" related questions !
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!10.1 What Ftape version should I use?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Always the latest stable version which is _supposed_ to be available from
-ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes
-and
-http://www-math.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape/
-
-At time of this writing the latest stable version is ftape-4.02.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-!!10.2 I'm having problems getting my XYZ drive to run under the 2..xx kernel with the built-in driver. How do I fix this?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The default version of ''Ftape'' included in the 2..xx kernel sources is
-2.08 or 2.09 and is very out of date. Please update the ''Ftape drivers''
-to the latest from the
-Ftape Home Page.
-
-
-<answer from Tim Jones>
-
-!!10.3 I'm running Linux/SMP and the system just freezes when trying to access the Ftape devices!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You need to add -D__SMP__ to the KERNEL_OPT variable in the
-file MCONFIG. In newer ftape versions you only need to
-uncomment a certain line in the MCONFIG file.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.4 Why does depmod complain about "undefined symbols"?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Ignore the depmod error messages. The problem is that the ''Ftape modules''
-have to be compiled without the version checksum feature (i.e.
-CONFIG_MODVERSIONS) with 2..ast kernels. This causes no problem, even
-when the modules are used with a kernel that has support for this feature;
-only that depmod wrongly complains about undefined symbols. Ignore the
-complaints of depmod and try to insert the modules despite of these
-complaints:
-
-
-modprobe zftape
-
-
-If this fails, something is wrong.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.5 "insmod" says the kernel version is wrong
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The insmod program can check the kernel version against the
-version that ''Ftape'' was compiled for in two ways: It can directly
-compare the kernel version number recorded in the ''Ftape module'' against
-the version of the running kernel, or, if both the kernel and
-''Ftape'' is compiled with versioned symbols, compare the version of
-the used kernel symbols.
-
-
-If you have upgraded your version of GCC to v2.7.0 or later, you must
-recompile the modules utilities with gcc v2.7.x.
-
-
-Newer versions of insmod allows you to "force" insertion of
-a module into the kernel, even though the version string is incorrect.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.6 "insmod" says that kernel 1.2.0 and 1.2.0 differ
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Did you remember to apply the ksyms.c patch to the kernel? If
-not, read the README.linux-1.2 file in the source distribution.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.7 Trying to compile Ftape gives me the error "modversions.h: no such file or directory"
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The modversions.h file is created when the kernel is compiled
-with the configuration item CONFIG_MODVERSIONS turned on. With
-this option enabled, the file will be created during the make dep
-step.
-
-
-One more handy tip is that a make mrproper will remove
-/usr/include/linux/modversions.h. You will need to reconfig
-the kernel and do a make dep to get the file back.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.8 What is this versioned symbols stuff anyway?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-When you say `yes' to CONFIG_MODVERSIONS during `make config',
-all the symbols exported by the kernel, i.e: the symbols that the
-loadable modules can "see", are augmented to include a checksum
-across the types of the call/return parameters. This allows
-insmod to detect whether the definition of a variable or function
-in the kernel has changed since the time when ''Ftape'' was compiled.
-
-
-This ensures a high degree of safety, such that you do not crash the
-kernel because you used an outdated module with your kernel.
-
-
-If you enable CONFIG_MODVERSIONS in the kernel, make sure you have
-
--DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/include/linux/modversions.h
-
-uncommented in the MODULE_OPT line in the ''Ftape'' Makefile. Conversely,
-if you do not have CONFIG_MODVERSIONS enabled, make sure you have it
-commented out.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.9 I seem to be getting sftape instead of zftape. When I run "ftmt status" command, I get output that the Ftape docs says corresponds to sftape ( /dev/qft0: Invalid argument ). Why?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There are (at least) two possible sources of the problem:
-
-
-*All Ftape-3.ast versions prior to 3.04 install the modules into
-
-
-/lib/modules/misc
-instead of
-/lib/modules/uname -r/misc
-
-
-As modprobe searches in /lib/modules/misc/ last there might be
-an old ftape.o module floating around in /lib/modules/''
-uname -r''/misc which modprobe finds first (uname -r
-stands for the kernel version).
-Remove the old ftape.o module.
-*
-
-*Your kernel has support for ''Ftape'' compiled in. Reconfigure
-your kernel without support for ''Ftape'' (CONFIG_FTAPE) and
-recompile and install it.
-*
-
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heins>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.10 My Ditto DASH/FC-20/Exabyte Accelerator card works under Microsoft Windows, but I get a drive not found type of error in /var/log/messages when trying to use it under Linux.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You are probably trying to use the same IRQ and DMA settings as your on-board
-FDC. This does not work in versions of ''Ftape'' prior to 3.03b. Please
-update the ''Ftape Drivers'' to the latest from the
-Ftape Home Page.
-
-
-<answer from Tim Jones>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.11 Ftape DMA transfers gives ECC errors
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Sadly to say there are some SVGA cards and Ethernet cards that do not
-decode their addresses correct. This typically happens when the
-''Ftape'' buffers are in the range 0x1a0000 to 0x1c0000.
-Somehow, the DMA write cycles get clobbered and every other byte
-written gets a bad value (0xff). These problems are reported to
-happen with both SVGA and Ethernet cards. We know of at least one
-(bad?) ATI 16bit VGA card that caused this.
-
-
-The easiest solution is to put the card in an 8bit slot (it is often
-not enough to reconfigure the card to 8bit transfers). Moving the
-''Ftape'' buffer away from the VGA range is only a partial
-solution; All DMA buffers used in Linux can have this problem! Let us
-make this one clear: This has nothing to do with the ''Ftape''
-software.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.12 Help! I'm getting 'dmaalloc() failed' in my syslog file.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You should only see this is you are trying to insmod the
-ftape.o module. Try running swapout first. It is provided
-with the standalone ''Ftape'' source. It doesn't appear in the
-''Ftape'' source that's provided with the kernel.
-
-
-Here's an example of how you can set your rc.local file to use it.
-
-
-
-
-
-# Install the Floppy Tape Driver
-if [[ -f /boot/modules/`uname -r`/misc/ftape.o ]; then
-echo Installing ftape for Linux `uname -r`
-swapout
-insmod /boot/modules/`uname -r`/misc/ftape.o
-fi
-
-
-
-
-Please note that you won't have this type of problem if you compile
-the ''Ftape driver'' into the kernel.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.13 Syslogd works overtime when running Ftape
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The compile-time options NO_TRACE and NO_TRACE_AT_ALL in ''Ftape''
-control the amount of system logging. Add whichever is appropriate to the
-FTAPE_OPT line in the Makefile and recompile.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.14 How do I change the trace-level?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There are three ways you can do this (in order of personal
-preference).
-
-
-While we're at it, here are the meanings of the various trace levels.
-
-
-
-
-
-*0 Bugs
-*
-
-*1 + Errors
-*
-
-*2 + Warnings
-*
-
-*3 + Information
-*
-
-*4 + More information
-*
-
-*5 + Program flow
-*
-
-*6 + FDC/DMA info
-*
-
-*7 + Data flow
-*
-
-*8 + Everything else
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-#Using insmod to change trace-level
-If you are using the modules mechanism to load the ''Ftape''
-driver, you can specify the tracing level as an option to the insmod
-command.
-
-
-/sbin/insmod ftape.o tracing=<tracing-level>
-
-
-
-#
-
-#Using mt to change trace-level
-The ''Ftape'' driver has a hack in it that allows the fsr option
-in mt to be used to set the tracing level. zftape does not
-have this hack.
-
-
-mt -f /dev/ftape fsr <tracing-level>
-
-
-The use of the fsr command in mt is a ''hack'',
-and will probably disappear or change with time.
-
-#
-
-#Recompiling to change trace-level
-The file tracing.c contains a line int tracing = 3;.
-Change the 3 to whatever is appropriate and recompile.
-
-#
-
-
-
-<From the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!10.15 I'm having problems with Ftape. I'm using the latest version of Ftape from the Ftape Home Page and believe that I've located a real bug. What should I do?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Check the
-Ftape Home Page.
-for an even newer version. Then check the FAQ contained in the that package
-if your problem is listed there. Next, try to check if the manual that comes
-with the ''Ftape distribution'' mentions your problem.
-
-
-There is no need to read the entire manual, simply check the "Concept Index"
-if it contains a keyword that might be related to your problem, then jump
-to the proper location in the manual.
-
-
-If you are still convinced you've found a bug, then post a general question
-describing the problem to the
-Linux-Tape Mailing List
-, but do not attach your entire ''Ftape'' error-log. If we've seen the
-problem before, we'll let you know where the resolution effort stands. If
-we haven't, the
-Ftape maintainer
-will most likely request that you send him the entire ''Ftape'' error-log
-(snipped from your system messages file).
-
-
-<answer from Tim Jones>
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!11. FAQ: "Using Ftape" related questions !
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!11.1 How fast is Ftape ?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You can achieve quite respectable backup and restore speeds with
-''Ftape'': a Colorado DJ-20 and an Adaptec 1542CF controller, has
-been measured at 4.25Mbyte/min sustained data transfer rate (no
-compression) across a 70Mbyte tar archive, while comparing the archive
-on the tape with data on an IDE disk. The speed of ''Ftape'' is
-mostly dependent on the data transfer rate of your FDC: The AHA1542CF
-has a ``post-1991 82077'' FDC, and it will push 1Mbit/sec at the tape
-drive. If you have an FDC which can only deliver 500Kbit/sec data
-rates, you will see half the transfer rate (well, roughly).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!11.2 When I write to some of my tapes, they seem to spend a lot of time "shoe-shining," or repositioning instead of streaming. Is something wrong with my system?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There has been a few reports of "shoeshining". This is when the tape just
-seems to run back and forth endlessly. This has been seen on a Jumbo
-250 (74407.3051@compuserve.com) and on an Iomega 250 Ditto Insider
-(tom@opus.cais.com). In the latter case it has been narrowed own to
-using an ELF Linux and running off a SCSI hard disk (connected to an
-Adaptec 1542cf). Please contact me if you have an update to this
-problem.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-Probably not. If you are backing up a large number of < 2K files, you're
-just going to have to live with it. In this event, the repositions are caused
-by file system access overhead. If you are backing up a normal system's files,
-this may be caused by slop or media stretching in the tape cartridge. By
-simply retensioning the tape, you should see this go away. Try
-
-
-ftmt -f /dev/zqft0 reten
-
-
-to retension the tape. If retensioning doesn't solve this, and it's only
-happening on certain tapes, it might be wise to replace the tapes in question.
-
-
-<answer from Tim Jones>
-
-
-If you use afio as your backup tool you can set it to write a very large
-number of buffers in one hit by using the -c flag. Make it large enough so
-that you supply enough data for most of a single end-to-end pass over the tape.
-For my system, the following streams quite nicely - stopping relatively few
-times per tape pass on an unloaded system:
-
-
-find /usr/local -xdev -print | afio -o -v -f -b 10240 -c 800 /dev/qft0
-
-
-In my case I'm writing 800 x 10240 bytes per tape write, i.e. about 8MB.
-haven't experimented that much with these settings - so someone might like
-to establish more optimal ones.
-
-
-Presumably other backup utilities could be modified to use a similar technique.
-
-
-<answer by Michael Hamilton>
-
-
-GNU tar doesn't use buffering in this way. The commercial backup program
-"bru" is able to multi-buffer using shared memory; this works only when
-writing compressed archive with bru (regardless whether you use ''Ftape's''
-builtin compression)
-
-
-Another way to overcome the problem might be to use more dma buffers in the
-''Ftape kernel driver'' like:
-
-
-mt -f /dev/qft0 setdrvbuffer $((6ast32786))
-
-
-$((6ast32786)) should be expanded by your shell when using a Bourne
-compatible one. This has a negative impact on the system's memory pool:
-''Ftape's'' dma buffers cannot be used by any other part of the kernel nor
-by any other application. And kernel memory cannot be swapped out. If you
-decide to use this kind of multi-buffering then you should unload the driver
-as soon as it isn't needed any longer.
-
-
-<answer by Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.3 Do I have to reboot to the DOS world to format tapes?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Not if you are using the latest version of the ''Ftape drivers'' from the
-Ftape Home Page.
-
-
-To format a QIC-80, TR-1, TR-3, QICWide 3010 or 3020 tape, get the
-latest version of ftape and the latest version of the
-ftape-tools package (from the same location) and read the
-documentation of the ftformat utility which is included in the
-ftape-tools package.
-
-
-
-__Comment__
-Do not try to format Ditto 2GB tapes.
-__Comment__
-Do not try to format Ditto Max or Max Pro tapes.
-
-
-<answers from Tim Jones and Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.4 Is it possibly to format Ditto 2GB tapes with ftape?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-It isn't possible to format Ditto 2GB tapes with Ditto 2GB
-tape drive, and it isn't possible at all to re-format Ditto 2GB
-tapes in a way that they still can be used by a Ditto 2GB tape
-drive.
-
-
-This is a hardware limitation of the Ditto 2GB tape drive. It
-can't be helped at the software level, i.e. it isn't ftape's
-fault.
-
-
-
-
-!!11.5 Is it possibly to format Ditto Max or Max Pro tapes with ftape?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-No, the Ditto Max can't format tapes.
-
-
-This is a hardware limitation of the Ditto Max (Pro) tape drive. It
-can't be helped at the software level, i.e. it isn't ftape's
-fault.
-
-
-
-
-!!11.6 Ftape detects more bad sectors than DOS on QIC-3020 tapes
-
-
-
-
-
-
-If you look at the difference, you will notice that ''Ftape''
-always detects 2784 sectors more than DOS.
-
-
-The number that ''Ftape'' reports is correct (of course :-). Each
-correctly formatted QIC-3020 tape has 2784 sectors at fixed positions
-that are marked in the bad sector map. To quote from the specs:
-
-
-
-
-Tracks 5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23,25 and 27 within 4 segments of
-either EOT or BOT are prone to increased error rates due to hole
-imprints. Therefore, these regions shall be mapped as bad at format
-time and entered in the bad sector map by indicating that all sectors
-within the identified segments are bad.
-
-
-
-This gives 12 tracks ast 2 ast 4 segments ast 29 sectors == 2784 sectors.
-
-
-So ''Ftape'' choose to report the real number of sectors that cannot be
-used on the tape, while DOS gives a more optimistic number giving a
-better indication of tape quality. (''Ftape's'' behavior might change in
-the future to detect correct formatting and display the separate
-numbers. It has rather low priority though).
-
-
-QIC-3010 are alike QIC-3020 tapes regarding this.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.7 Is it ok that I'm not hearing the tape move when I do a fsf or a bsf with mt?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Yes. The driver merely updates an internal counter when those
-commands are issues. The tape should move to the proper location on
-the next read or write access to the tape drive.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.8 Why does my XYZ backup program complain about "Invalid argument" errors?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-zftape requires the data to be written in multiples of a fixed minimal
-block size. This is a very usual behavior for a tape device. There are three
-ways to get rid of those errors:
-
-
-*set ''Ftape's'' block size to the block size used by the backup program. The example below works for "afio":
-
-
-mt -f /dev/qft0 setblk 5120
-
-
-
-*
-
-*If you don't want to use ''Ftape's'' built in compression you can also use
-
-
-mt -f /dev/qft0 setblk
-
-
-to switch ''Ftape'' to variable block size mode and be able to write the
-data in arbitrary portions to the tape (BUT: the builtin compression doesn't
-work with this setting). When you intend to use "KBackup" then this is the
-only way to make it work together with ''Ftape'' (it _may_ work, don't know
-if it does)
-*
-
-*tell your backup program about ''Ftape's'' default block size of 10k (which
-is also the default of GNU tar). For "afio" you can use the following command
-line switch:
-
-
-afio -b 10k ...
-
-
-
-*
-
-
-
-You may want to read the section "Tape blocks" of the manual (use its
-"Concept index" to directly jump to that section)
-
-
-When using GNU tar's builtin compression with GNU tar versions prior to
-tar-1.12 one needs to run tar with the --block-compress switch to
-re-block the output to the tape. Otherwise tar will compress the data
-it reads, and write it in arbitrary portions to the tape.
-
-
-
-
-
-Example :
-tar -czvf /dev/qft0 --block-compress /etc
-
-
-
-
-__WARNING:__
-One shouldn't use tar's builtin compression with large backups as it makes the
-entire data stream one huge compressed block. If such archives are corrupted
-right at the beginning it will be very difficult to recover.
-
-
-<answer by Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.9 I/O errors and FDC - some explanations.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-When you get next messages, this could be interesting for you !
-
-
-
-
-
-*fdc-io.c (ft_handle_perpend) - Your FDC does not support QIC-3020.
-*
-
-*Cannot write to /dev/qft0: I/O error
-*
-
-
-
-The explanations:
-
-
-"FDC" menas "Floppy Disk Controller". The
-problem is that your floppy disk controller must be able to support
-something that is called "perpendicular mode" to be able to read and
-write QIC-3020/QIC-3010 cartridges (i.e. TR-3 cartridges). To my
-knowledge all FDCs that are capable of at least 1Mbit/sec data
-transfer rate also support "perpendicular mode" ("perpendicular"
-refers to the direction of magnetization of the ferro-magnetic
-particles on the tape).
-
-
-This means that you need to purchase another FDC. Either look around
-some computer stores and ask for an IO controller cards that is able
-to support 2.88 Mb floppies (which imlies 1Mbit data transfer rate and
-perpendicular mode).
-
-
-Or get one of the so called "high speed" controllers that even support
-2Mbit/sec data transfer rate. Those controllers are based on an Intel
-82078 FDC. Iomega sells such a card under the name "Ditto Dash". I
-think Exabyte sells their 2Mbit controllers separately, too, whereas
-Seagate ships its TR-3 drives (i.e. the TST-3200) together with such a
-controller.
-
-
-
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.10 Why do I get "/dev/qft0: No such device" errors?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-I assume that the following is the problem:
-The ''Ftape'' module is loaded OK into the kernel:
-
-
-/usr/src/ftape-3.03b-970603# lsmod
-Module Pages Used by
-ftape 22
-
-
-but then this happens:
-
-
-$ ftmt -f /dev/qft0 status
-ftmt: /dev/qft0: No such device
-
-
-
-
-Solution
-You need to load the ''zftape.o'' module as well. With Ftape-3.ast the
-''ftape.o'' module doesn't implement the VFS interface. This is done by
-''zftape.o''.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.11 I get "device busy" when I make multiple backups on a tape using some script.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The "device busy" messages can only occur while the ''Ftape devices'' are
-still held open by some program. As soon as the close() system call has
-completed the busy flag is cleared. May be "bru" or some other program has
-still forked off a child that dies delayed?
-
-
-Yes, this will reproduce the problem, it seems:
-
-
-tar -cvvzf /dev/nqft0 --block-compress ; mt rewind
-
-
-You can skip the "--block-compress" if using the most recent version
-of GNU tar.
-
-
-However, this is not a bug of ''Ftape''. It seems that the parent tar
-process exits before its child has closed the tape device. I know,
-however, from hacking the tar code ages ago, that tar properly waits
-for its parent to die.
-
-
-However, the busy message simply means that the "busy" variable is
-still held at 1 (zftape/zftape-init.c). And this simply means that
-there still is a process hanging around that holds the tape device
-open.
-
-
-I think I have it (only for the case of tar 'cause I have the source
-code.
-
-
-If on uses tar with compression, then it forks a child which will
-become the compressor bei execing "gzip" or whatever. Before the call
-to execlp() the child will fork off a grand child of its parent
-tar. That grandchild will do the actual tape I/O.
-
-
-tar - fork() - write to child tar
-|
-child tar - fork() - gzip (will pipe to grand child tar)
-|
-grand child tar - open archive.
-
-
-
-
-Now, parent tar only waits for its child to die. gzip surely doesn't
-wait for the grand child as the gzip is a result of an execlp().
-
-
-What I don't know is whether the grand child should be implicitly
-waited for by the parent tar, or if the wait() function also waits for
-grand childs.
-
-
-But this seems to be the problem: the parent tar already has exited
-while its grandchild still is busy closing the archive. One hardly
-will notice this problem if the close() happens fast (i.e. regular
-files, block devices, also other tape devices?), but it isn't a bug in
-''Ftape'', but either in the backup programs or in the kernel or maybe
-libc exit code.
-
-
-Don't know if the considerations above also apply to bru. If there is
-no grandchild and the parent process properly waits for its childs
-then there shouldn't be a problem.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.12 How do I "..." with tar?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-These are really tar questions: Please read the man page and
-the info page. If you have not got it either, try
-
-
-tar --help 2>&1 | less
-
-
-
-
-If your version of tar is v1.11.1 or earlier, consider
-upgrading to v1.11.8 - This version can call GNU zip directly
-(i.e.: it supports the -z option) and has an elaborate help
-included. Also, it compiles right out of the box on Linux.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.13 What block-size should I use with tar ?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-When using compression, and in all general, it can be a benefit to
-specify to tar, that it should block the output into chunks.
-Since ''Ftape'' cuts things into 29Kbyte blocks, saying `-b58'
-should be optimum.
-
-
-"Why 29Kbyte?", I hear you cry. Well, the QIC-80 standard specifies
-that all data should be protected by an Error Correcting Code (ECC)
-code. The code specified in the QIC-80 standard is known as a
-Reed-Solomon (R-S) code. The R-S code takes 29 data bytes and
-generates 3 parity bytes. To increase the performance of the ECC
-code, the parity bytes are generated across 29 1Kbyte sectors. Thus,
-''Ftape'' takes 29Kbytes of data, adds 3Kbytes of ECC parity, and
-writes 32Kbytes to the tape at a time. For this reason, ''Ftape'' will
-always read and write 32K byte blocks to be able to detect (and
-correct) data errors.
-
-
-If you are curious, and wish to know more, look in the ecc.c and
-ecc.h files, for an explanation of the code and a reference to a
-textbook on Reed-Solomon codes.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.14 Where can I find the tar/mt/cpio/dd binaries - sources - manpages?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-All of these tools have been developed by the GNU project, and the
-source (and man page) can be fetched from just-about any ftp site in
-the world (including ftp.funet.fi, tsx-11.mit.edu, and
-sunsite.unc.edu). In any case they can be fetched from the
-official GNU home site: prep.ai.mit.edu [[18.71..38]:/pub/gnu. The latest versions (as of September 12
-1996) are:
-
-
-
-
-
-cpio: 2.4.2 (cpio-2.4.2.tar.gz)
-dd: 3.13 (fileutils-3.13.tar.gz)
-mt: 2.4.2 (cpio-2.4.2.tar.gz)
-tar: 1.11.8 (tar-1.11.8.tar.gz)
-gzip: 1.2.4 (gzip-1.2.4.tar.gz)
-
-
-
-
-They all compile out of the box on Linux v1..4 / libc
-v4.5.19 / gcc v2.5.8.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.15 If I use tapers compression, is it a bad idea to use the compression with zftape, or would it be better to not use tapers compression, and let zftape do it?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-It is not bad as such to compress data twice (which would be the case
-when using tapers compression together with ''zftape's'' compression) but
-it doesn't make any sense. You won't gain much further compression,
-but only waste CPU cycles.
-
-
-Tapers compression should be quite safe, as taper compresses single
-files; in contrast to ''tar -czf ...'' which makes the entire data
-stream a large compressed block of data, which is really a bad thing
-with serious backups as a single bad byte at the beginning of the
-archive can make the entire archive unusable, well, it will be at
-least quite difficult to recover.
-
-
-<Answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.16 How does zftape compression compare to say gzip -9?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-''gzip -9'' is better (i.e. one gains higher compression). ''zftape's''
-compression is comparable with the Un*x ''compress'' program, but should
-be faster, and is faster than ''gzip''.
-
-
-<Answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.17 I don't trust compression, but hear that the sftape interface is going away. What should I do?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Use the ''zftape interface'', but don't load the ''zft-compressor module''.
-The device then becomes /dev/qft0.
-
-
-<answer from Tim Jones>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.18 Ftape says "This tape has no 'Linux raw format"
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You get this complaint if you haven't ''erased'' your freshly
-formatted tape. This is because ''Ftape'' expect a "magic header"
-on the tape, to be able that it is allowed to interpret the header
-segment in its own way (eg: file marks). To remove the problem, say
-
-mt -f /dev/nftape erase
-
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.19 Can I exchange tapes with someone using DOS?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-No. The DOS software conforms to the QIC-80 specs about the layout of
-the DOS filesystem, and it should(?) be a small problem to write a
-program that can read/write the DOS format. In fact, I'd bet that
-creating a nice user interface would be a bigger problem.
-
-
-<From the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.20 How does `mt eom' work when you've started overwriting a tape in the middle?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-(EOM is "End Of recorded Media", the position right after all data
-already recorded to the tape)
-
-
-One cannot use tape "files" like files on an ordinary file system.
-
-
-In principle, a tape doesn't allow anything but appending new data at
-EOM. However, if one positiones just in the middle of the already
-recorded data AND starts writing, then the driver first deletes all
-following files (thus moving the EOM to the actual position) and then
-starts writing.
-
-
-Thus, the new EOM after finishing the write process, is then after the
-newly recorded data.
-
-
-One of the consequences of the above is, of course, that writing to
-the tape in the middle of the already recorded area, is destructive in
-the sense, that it not only overwrites the "file" the tape is
-positioned at, but also deletes all following files.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-<Answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.21 When I made backups before using taper, under the 2..29 ftape my drive didn't support fsf, under the new zftape it does, why would this be, and what exactly is fsf ?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-It probably didn't work before because you didn't use a
-
-
-mt -f /dev/rft0 erase
-
-
-before writing data to the cartridge. THIS ISN'T necessary any more.
-
-
-But, hey, what does ''mt fsf''? Tape drives don't store files in the
-sense that you can use
-
-cp somefile /dev/my_what_ever_tape
-
-or be able to mount the tape drive like you could mount a harddisk.
-You can't do nothing with a tape drive but write data to it in a sequential
-manner.
-
-
-As this is quite inconvenient, somebody invented something which is
-known under the name ''file mark'' or ''eof mark'' (eof == End Of
-File). Those marks don't separate files that have been backed up to
-the tape device, but only separate blocks of data (whatever data that
-might be).
-
-
-Normally, the kernel tape device drivers take care of writing file
-marks when the tape device is closed, i.e.
-
-
-tar -cf /dev/nqft0 /bin
-tar -cf /dev/nqft0 /etc
-mt -f /dev/nqft0 rewind
-
-
-would result in a backup of all files under ''/bin'' and ''/etc''. When
-the first ''tar'' finishes, the kernel driver will take care of writing
-a file mark to the tape at the the current tape position, and when the
-second ''tar'' process has finished, another file mark is written to the
-tape cartridge at that position.
-
-
-Now, the sense of those file marks is, that it is possible to skip
-between different archives on the tape more quickly than would be
-possible with reading the data back.
-
-
-The commands to do that are:
-
-; __mt fsf__:
-
-fast skip to the next file mark towards EOT (End Of Tape)
-; __mt bsf__:
-
-fast skip to the next file marks towards BOT (Begin Of Tape)
-
-Thus, to extract the second archive in the example above, one doesn't
-need to read the first archive back, but can proceed as follows:
-
-
-mt -f /dev/nqft0 rewind
-mt -f /dev/nqft0 fsf
-tar -xvf /dev/nqft0
-
-
-
-
-<Answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.22 What exactly is the difference between ftape, and zftape?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-When ''Ftape'' was young there were two versions of the floppy tape
-driver, one of them was called ''zftape'' because of its built-in
-user-transparent on-the-fly compression. Whether such a thing is a
-feature or a bug ('cause this needn't be done in kernel space) is
-another question. However, the ioctl interface and file mark handling
-provided by ''zftape'' was much better and had less bugs. And ''zftape''
-allows to use floppy tape cartridges with different OS. Well, you
-can't exchange data, but ''zftape'' won't overwrite volumes created by
-your Windoze program, and vice versa.
-
-
-Nowadays, ''Ftape'' is name of the entire floppy tape driver package AND
-''ftape.o'' is the file-name of the kernel module that implements the
-low-level hardware support. ''zftape'' has ceased to exist as a separate
-package, but the new ''Ftape'' versions (since ftape-3.00) contain a
-''zftape.o'' module that needs to be loaded on top of ''ftape.o''
-(i.e. you need to load BOTH modules to be able to access your floppy
-tape drive) and implements the file system interface and the advanced
-(?) features of the previous verions ''zftape''.
-
-
-<Answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.23 What is the difference between a rewinding, and non rewinding drive?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Well, the rewinding tape devices rewind the tape to BOT (Begin Of
-Tape) when the device is closed, i.e.
-
-
-tar -cvf /dev/qft0 /bin
-
-
-will rewind the tape cartridge when the tar job has finished. In contrast,
-
-
-tar -cvf /dev/nqft0 /bin
-
-
-will NOT rewind the tape cartridge and leave the tape R/W head at its
-current position.
-
-
-Rewinding devices should be used when performing a single backup,
-non-rewinding devices can be useful when doing multiple backups as one
-doesn't need to space to EOM (End Of recorded Media) before appending
-another archive.
-
-
-Non-rewinding devices MUST be used when sending any of the tape motion
-command to the tape drive, such as
-
-
-mt -f /dev/nqft0 fsf
-
-
-, because when the ''mt'' process finishes then the tape device is closed
-which would result in rewinding the cartridge with the rewinding devices.
-
-
-<Answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.24 Can someone tell me how to use mt to rewind my TR-3 drive one record using zftape record, so I can verify it?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Well, it depends. If the tape is still positioned inside the volume
-just written, "mt bsf 1" (or equivalently "mt bsf") will backspace
-just to the beginning of that volume (this is how "tar --verify"
-works). If the tape is already positioned AFTER the filemark that
-marks the end of the last written volume, then you need to issue
-"mt bsf 2"
-
-
-The logic behind this is as follows:
-"MTBSF count" backspaces over count file marks, stops, and then
-positions on the EOT side of the last skipped file mark. This means,
-an "mt bsf 2" will position right at the beginning of the previous
-volume.
-
-
-<answer form Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.25 By non-rewinding, they mean that it doesn't automatically rewind, correct? It doesn't mean that under no circumstances it will rewind, right? I tried using /dev/zqft0, and it instantly rewinds the tape.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You are right: auto-rewind means, the tape is rewound when the tape
-device is closed, non-rewinding means, the tape isn't automatically
-rewound when the tape device is closed (but you can, of course, use
-the tape motion commands BSF/FSF etc. to position the tape head at
-every position you like).
-
-
-<answer form Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.26 What is the difference between what mt considers a record and what it considers a file?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-A record is the minimal amount of bytes that will be accepted by the
-tape in one read/write operation (except in "variable block size mode"
-where it just should be the amount of data actually written in a
-single write operation??).
-
-
-For ''zftape'' every read and write access has to be a multiple of a fixed
-block size (fixed, but tunable with MTSETBLK). This block size is a
-"tape record" (as mentioned in the GNU mt man page and defaults to
-10kb for ''zftape''.
-
-
-A "file" (in the sense of the mt man page) is a, well, misleading
-terminus. What is meant is an area of the tape between two file
-marks. This is not a file like a file on the file system, in the sense
-that it could have a name, file access modes, could be moved or copied
-with cp, mv, rm etc.
-
-
-Instead, It simply is the area of the tape that was recorded in one
-backup session, its end is marked by a tape file mark, and its
-beginning is delimited by either BOT or the file mark of the previous
-tape "file". That tape "files" are the things that can be skipped with
-the MTBSF/FSF commands.
-
-
-<answer form Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.27 Reusing tapes with zftape without reformatting the tape.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-We try to answer the followong questions :
-
-
-*Is there a good way to erase, as in remove the data or at least the volumes
-from a tape, without reformating?
-*
-
-*Can you overwrite the last volume on a tape with making a mess out of it?
-*
-
-*Can you overwrite the last several volumes without making a mess?
-*
-
-*Can you delete the last volume?
-*
-
-
-
-If you want to "erase" an entire cartridge, then simply do:
-
-
-
-
-
-mt -f /dev/qft0 erase
-
-
-
-
-This will erase the volume table (i.e. the "file marks").
-
-
-Pre-ftape-3.x releases of zftape and ftape used to allow overwriting
-of already existing volumes on a cartridge. I have removed this
-feature as it was reported that it already has caused data-loss with
-some backup programs.
-
-
-If you indeed need to remove some volumes on the tape then you should
-use the
-
-
-
-
-
-vtblc
-
-
-
-
-program that comes with the ftape-tools package which can be
-down-loaded from the same locations as the ftape kernel driver
-package. Please refer to the documentation which is contained in the
-ftape-tools package for more information.
-
-
-If you simply want to reuse old tapes, then it suffices to do
-
-
-
-
-
-mt rewind
-
-
-
-
-If the tape is at BOT (Begin Of Tape) then every write access to the
-tape will silently erase all file marks and overwrite the data already
-existing on the tape.
-
-
-<answer by Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!11.28 This script implements a simple contents listing for the zftape package using the "MTIOCVOLINFO" ioctl.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Here is as little perl/bash script that lists the contents of a cartridge
-using the ''zftape'' specific "volinfo" ioctl. Hope this shows how to
-handle this kind of stuff.
-
-
-What it basically does is the following:
-
-
-
-
-
-#Rewind the cartridge
-#
-
-#Issue the volinfo command:
-
-
-claus@thales:~$ mt volinfo
-file number = 1
-block size = 10240
-physical space used = 522.0 kilobytes
-real size of volume = 520.0 kilobytes
-
-
-Parse the ouput and place the values in appropriate variables
-#
-
-#Skip to the next volume with "mt fsf"
-#
-
-#Exit if this gives an error (EOD), otherwise "goto 2)"
-#
-
-
-
-__The Perl Script__
-
-
-
-
-
-#!/usr/bin/perl
-#
-# Copyright (C) 1997 Claus-Justus Heine
-#
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
-# any later version.
-#
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with this program; see the file COPYING. If not, write to
-# the Free Software Foundation, 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
-#
-# This script implements a simple contents listing for the zftape
-# package using the MTIOCVOLINFO ioctl.
-#
-$version = <<EOT;
-listtape-1.0 -- a perl script to list the contents of a floppy tape cartridge
-under Linux using the zftape driver
-RCS \$Revision: 1.2 $
-RCS \$Date: 1998/08/30 13:44:03 $
-EOT
-$tapedev = "/dev/tape";
-$usage = <<EOT;
-Usage: listtape [[options ...]
-Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are mandatory or optional
-for short options too.
--f, --file=FILE Tape device to use. Default is "/dev/tape".
--h, --help Print this help.
--? Same as '-h'.
---usage Same as '-h'.
--V, --version Print version information.
-Author: Claus-Justus Heine <claus\@momo.math.rwth-aachen.de>
-EOT
-while ($ARGV[[] =~ /^-/) {
-$_ = shift;
-if (/--file/) {$_ = shift; $tapedev = $_; next;}
-if (/-f/) {$_ = shift; $tapedev = $_; next;}
-if (/--help/) { print $usage; exit ; }
-if (/-h/) { print $usage; exit ; }
-if (/--usage/) { print $usage; exit ; }
-if (/-\?/) { print $usage; exit ; }
-if (/--version/) { print $version; exit ; }
-if (/-V/) { print $version; exit ; }
-die $usage;
-}
-&open_tape($tapedev, "status");
-while(<FTMT>)
-{
-$online = 1 if (/.*online.*/);
-}
-if (! $online) { die "No cartridge present.\n"; }
-&mtop($tapedev, "rewind");
-printf "%11s%12s%20s%20s\n",
-"file number", "block size", "volume size", "tape space";
-while (1)
-{
-&open_tape($tapedev, "volinfo");
-while (<FTMT>) {
-if (/^file number\s*=\s*([[-9]*)$/) { $filenumber = $1; }
-if (/^block size\s*=\s*([[-9]*)$/) { $blocksize = $1; }
-if (/^physical space used\s*=\s*([[[[-9]*.*)/) { $rawsize = $1; }
-if (/^real size of volume\s*=\s*([[[[-9]*.*)/) { $size = $1; }
-}
-close(FTMT);
-if (&mtop($tapedev, "fsf 1") != ) {
-&mtop($tapedev,"rewind");
-print "\nRemaining space: $rawsize\n";
-print "Tape block size: $blocksize\n";
-exit ;
-}
-printf "%6d %5d %20s%20s\n",
-$filenumber, $blocksize, $size, $rawsize;
-}
-sub mtop
-{
-local ($tape, $operation) = @_;
-local ($exitval);
-system "ftmt -f $tape $operation > /dev/null 2>&1";
-}
-sub open_tape
-{
-local ($tape, $operation) = @_;
-local ($command);
-$command = "ftmt -f " . $tape . " " . $operation . " |";
-open(FTMT, $command) || die "Couldn't open $command -- $!\n";
-}
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-__The Bash Script__
-
-
-
-----
-
-#! /bin/bash
-#
-# Copyright (C) 1997 Claus-Justus Heine
-#
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
-# any later version.
-#
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with this program; see the file COPYING. If not, write to
-# the Free Software Foundation, 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
-#
-# This script implements a simple contents listing for the zftape
-# package using the MTIOCVOLINFO ioctl.
-#
-#
-# insert better option parsing here
-#
-TAPEDEV=${1-/dev/tape}
-if ! echo $TAPEDEV | grep "/dev/n"
-then
-TAPEDEV=/dev/n$(basename $TAPEDEV)
-fi
-if ! [[ -c $TAPEDEV ]
-then
-echo $TAPEDEV is not a character device! 1>&2
-exit 1
-fi
-if ! mt -f $TAPEDEV rewind
-then
-echo Could not rewind $TAPEDEV - no cartridge present? 1>&2
-exit 1
-fi
-echo -e "\nContents of $TAPEDEV:\n"
-printf "%11s%12s%20s%20s\n" "file number" "block size" "volume size" "tape space"
-trap "rm -f /tmp/$.$$" exit
-while true
-do
-if ! foo=$(mt -f $TAPEDEV volinfo |cut -f 2 -d =)
-then
-echo $TAPEDEV doesn\'t seem to be a floppy tape device 1>&2
-exit 1
-fi
-#
-# "echo foo | read foo" will not work as the "read foo" is executed in
-# another shell.
-#
-echo $foo > /tmp/$.$$
-read file blksz used usedunit size sizeunit < /tmp/$.$$
-if ! mt -f $TAPEDEV fsf 1 > /dev/null 2>&1
-then
-echo -e "\nRemaining space: $used $usedunit"
-echo -e "Tape block size: $blksz"
-if ! mt -f $TAPEDEV rewind
-then
-echo Rewind of $TAPEDEV failed 1>&2
-exit 1
-fi
-exit
-fi
-printf "%6d %5d %20s%20s\n"\
-$file $blksz "$size $sizeunit" "$used $usedunit"
-done
-
-----
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!12. FAQ: "Tape and Drivers" related questions !
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!12.1 What are good makers of Travan tapes?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-I was the UNIX Product Manager at Archive Corp (Prior to the Conner/Seagate
-mess) and we performed extensive tests of tape media for compatibility
-certification, including retentivity, flaking and length consistancy. Based
-on the results of the tests, we selected the best of these certified
-manufacturers' products to private label as our own media. Here is the
-order in which we selected vendors up through 1995 (when I lost contact
-with the ATI group):
-
-
-
-
-; __QIC__:
-
-
-
-
-# 3M (now known as Imation)
-#
-
-# QMaxell/Sony (tie)
-#
-
-# (BTW - Iomega uses Sony private-labelled media)
-#
-
-; __4MM__:
-
-
-
-
-# Fuji
-#
-
-# Maxell/Sony (tie - is this a trend?)
-#
-
-; __8MM__:
-
-
-
-
-# Fuji/Exabyte - which we believed to be OEM'd Fuji (tie - so much for trend!)
-#
-
-# Sony
-#
-
-# Maxell
-#
-
-; __DLT__:
-
-
-
-
-# Maxell
-#
-
-# Sony
-#
-
-
-
-
-Otherwise, we had entries in our search from other vendors which were
-generally a private-labelled version of one of the major labels above. The
-exceptions were Verbatim and DIC. Both of these manufacturer's media had
-fall-out rates and length discrepancies that were so high that we would not
-certify them and even warned customers about them indicating that we could
-not offer any sort of guarantee that they would get a good backup using the
-media from these manufacturers.
-
-
-In addition, since coming to EST, I've found that Verbatim media is still
-not worth the money saved in purchasing it. We have 11 of their TR-Extra
-and QIC-Extra (QICXL) tapes that were useless after fewer than 20 passes each.
-
-
-While this is my personal opinion, it is based on over 9 years of experience
-with this very question, I strongly recommend Imation/3M media for QIC/Travan
-user, Fuji media 4MM users, Exabyte/Fuji for 8MM and DEC labelled media
-for DLT users.
-
-
-<answer from Tim Jones>
-
-
-
-
-!!12.2 Where can I obtain the QIC standards?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-If you wish to help developing ''Ftape'', or add some utility
-(e.g. a tape formatting program), you will need that appropriate QIC
-standards. The standard(s) to get is: QIC-80, -117, -3010, and 3020.
-QIC-117 describes how commands are sent to the tape drive (including
-timing etc), so you would probably never need it. QIC-80/3010/3020
-describes higher level part, such as tape layout, ECC code, standard
-filesystem. You can get the QIC standards from the following address:
-
-
-
-
-
-Quarter Inch Cartridge Drive Standards, Inc.
-311 East Carrillo Street
-Santa Barbara, California 93101
-Phone: (805) 963-3853
-Fax: (805) 962-1541
-
-
-
-
-Note: They are registered as `Freeman Associates, Inc' in the phone
-book.
-
-
-<from the Ftape-Howto>
-
-
-
-
-!!12.3 Is the Iomega Ditto 2GB drive supported?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Yes, if you are using version ftape-3.x or later of the ''Ftape
-drivers'' from the
-Ftape Home Page or from
-ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes.
-
-
-<answer from Tim Jones>
-
-
-As the Ditto 2GB is a Tr-3 tape (though it can only store 1GB instead of the
-1.6GB you get with a regular Tr-3 drive) you need an FDC (FDC means: Floppy
-Disk Controller) that is capable of at 1Mbit/sec transfer rate. You don't need
-to worry about this if you have an accellerator card (i.e. the Ditto Dash
-controller). Otherwise try to purchase an FDC that claims to be capable of
-driving 2.88Mb floppies because this implies that the FDC is capable of 1Mbit
-transfer rate.
-
-
-''Ftape'' prints the maximum data rate of the FDC to the kernel log
-files like this:
-
-ftape-ctl.c (ftape_init_drive) - Highest FDC supported data rate: 500 Kbps.
-
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!12.4 Is the Iomega Ditto Max drive supported?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Yes, if you are using version ftape-4.02 or later of the
-''Ftape drivers'' from the
-Ftape Home Page or from
-ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!12.5 Is the Iomega Ditto Max Pro drive supported?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Yes. But if you want to use the 5GB (10GB with compression) cartridges
-you don't need it. With ftape there doesn't seem to be any
-difference between the Ditto Max and the Ditto Max Pro.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!13. FAQ: Miscellaneous !
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!13.1 How to subscribe to the Ftape Mailing List?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You can subscribe to that list by sending mail to
-
-
-majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
-
-
-with the single line
-
-
-subscribe linux-tape
-
-
-in its body. Please store the answer you get from majordomo in a safe place
-because it contains instructions how to UNSUBSCRIBE from the mailing list.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!13.2 How to un-subscribe from the Ftape Mailing List?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Send mail to
-
-
-majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
-
-
-with the single line
-
-
-unsubscribe linux-tape MY@EMAIL.ADDRESS
-
-
-where MY@EMAIL.ADDRESS has to be replaced by the the email
-address that you used when subscribing to the list. Note that you must
-have received an email with instructions how to unsubscribe from the
-mailing list at the time you subscribed to it.
-
-
-<answer from Claus Heine>
-
-
-
-
-!!13.3 Links to related information.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/usai/library/backups.html>
-
-More links wanted !!!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!14. Debugging the ftape driver
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!14.1 The kernel/ftape crashes on me when I do `...' - is that a bug?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-No, that is a feature ;hyphenrpar
-
-
-Seriously, reliable software do not crash. Especially kernels do not
-or rather __should__ not crash. If the kernel crashes upon you
-when you are running ftape, and you can show that it is
-ftape that is messing things up, regard it as a Bug That Should
-Be Fixed. Mail the details to the maintainer
-(<heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>) and to the tape list.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!14.2 OK, it's a bug ...ehhh... feature - How do I submit a report?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-First, make sure you can reproduce the problem. Spurious errors are a
-pain in the ass, since they are just about impossible to hunt down
-:-/ This is a quick check list:
-
-
-
-
-
-* Kernel version, and patches applied
-*
-
-* ftape version
-*
-
-* tape drive model / manufacturer
-*
-
-* Expansion bus type (EISA, ISA, PCI, or VL-bus)
-*
-
-* What you did to expose the problem
-*
-
-* What went wrong on your system.
-*
-
-* Do not delete the kernel and the ftape.o file. I might want
-you run try some patches out or run a different test on your system.
-
-*
-
-
-
-Increase the tracing level to 4 or 5 and run the command that caused
-problems again (don't do it if your fear that you loose data or damage
-your hardware, there is absolutely no warranty for neither data loss
-nor hardware damage caused by ftape, remember this). Increasing
-the trace level beyond 5 probably doesn't make any sense as it affects
-the timing of the driver in a way that it doesn't work well any
-more. Get the tracing data from the kernel log or /proc/kmsg,
-depending on where you harvest your error messages. Try to look at
-what ftape spews out at you. It may look in-comprehensible to
-you at first, but you can get valuable information from the logfile.
-Most messages have a function name prepended, to make it easier to
-locate the problem. Look through the source, don't just cry
-``WOLF!'', without giving it a try. If your version of the kernel (or
-ftape for that matter), is ``old'', when compared to the newest
-version of the kernel, try to get a newer (or even the newest) kernel
-and see if the problem goes away under the new kernel. When you post
-your problem report, include the information about ftape version,
-kernel version, expansion bus type (ISA, VL-bus, PCI or EISA), bus
-speed, floppy controller, and tape drive. State exactly what you did,
-and what happened on your system. Some people have experienced that
-ftape would not run in a PCI based box, but ran flawlessly in a
-normal ISA based 386DX machine (see section
-Getting PCI motherboards to work with <tt/ftape/ on PCI
-machines above)
-
-
-Also, please think of the poor souls who actually ''pay'' the
-their Internet access (like me): avoid posting a (huge) log from the
-ftape run, without reason. Instead, you could describe the
-problem, and offer to send the log to the interested parties.
-
-
-Send your bug report to <linux-tape@vger.rutgers.edu>. You
-might also want to mail the bug to
-<heine@math1.rwth-aachen.de>.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!15. Contributions
-
-
-
-
-
-The following is a list of notable folks that have contributed to
-ftape's HOWTO document. This is a recent addition added by someone
-coming in midstream. My sincerest apologies if I've inadvertently left
-someone important off the list. You can view anoterh attempt to collect
-such kind of information at
-Ftape's Hall of Fame
-
-Johan De Wit <jo@correct.nl>: The maintainer of the Ftape
-FAQ.
-
-
-Kevin Johnson <kjj@pobox.com>: The previous maintainer of
-the Ftape-HOWTO
-
-
-Kai Harrekilde-Petersen <khp@dolphinics.no>: The
-previous maintainer of ftape and the HOWTO.
-
-
-
-
-
-Andrew Martin <martin@biochemistry.ucl.ac.uk>: Many
-additions to the HOWTO.
-
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-
-
-
-Bas Laarhoven <bas@vimec.nl>: The original author of
-ftape.
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-
-
-
-
-----
+Describe
[HowToFtapeHOWTO
] here.
