LTO 6 space occupying issue.

[Hari Krishna pune]

@Tim Gerhard

I took that advice to clean the drive multiple times from the below link or else I couldn’t have done that.
https://serverfault.com/questions/857771/what-could-cause-an-lto-drive-to-write-at-half-its-capacity

You people are so lucky coz you have so many guys there who can provide service for such kind of drives. But I am sitting in India. Couldn’t find one useful. Found two guys who doesn’t even tested the drive, but through the symptoms I have shared they said the head is gone. But I still can still read and write the tapes. I tried to reach IBM for its service. But they said the drive is out of warranty, so they can provide paid service. But they wanted me to pay 35% of the drive cost for the “initial onsite assessment to obtain problem” and the service charges would be vary as per the issue. I don’t know if it can be solved or not? I didn’t replied them yet to confirm the service.

I am just trying to figure it out through the Setup, Operater & Service Guide I got when I purchased the drive.
I couldn’t connect to https://169.254.0.3 through the Ethernet service port they provided in the rear.
So I tried maintenance mode with code “1”. Result is good. No errors found by the end of the test.
Then I tried code “H” to check for head errors. But I found nothing test is done in 120 minutes like they mentioned in the manual and went back to the normal status.

Planning to run code “F” to check the write performance test. Let’s see the results.

HARI KRISHNA PUNE
FCP EDITOR & ARCHIVE MANAGER

[Hari Krishna pune]

@Jerzy Zbyslaw, @Neil Sadwelkar, @Tim Gerhard

I Thank you for all your suggestions. I think I have overcome with the issue.

After enter to the maintenance mode as I said earlier I first run the drive diagnosis code “1” and test head code “H”.

And then run code “6” – Host interface wrap test by connecting to the sas port 1 and the result turned with error code “8”, Then I checked again by connecting to port 2 then the result is good.

Hope the sas port 1 has issues. Then I run code “F” to check performance. I got error with the error code “A” even I connected the drive to sas port 2. I tried it twice but got the same error.

So I went out of the maintenance mode and put a copy to test with a data of 300gb red raw footage. It just occupies the same 300gb. But the speed is low it seems, It took one hour to copy 300gb.

First thing I have issue with space. So that has been solved. I am going to check with a full tape. After it’s done. I will get back to the forum with the results. Let’s hope everything good.

Thanks once again to every one of you.

HARI KRISHNA PUNE
FCP EDITOR & ARCHIVE MANAGER

[Tim Gerhard]

I actually take back about the head, even though it’s still possible. When you fail performance from “unexpected data” this is an error code that can mean several different things.

Reduced capacity can be from a head, but just not sure without seeing the drive in person.

Tim Gerhard
MagStor Inc.
614-505-6333
tgerhard@magnext.com
NAB 2018 Booth #SL15816

[Hari Krishna pune]

@ Tim Gerhard

Thank you for your concern. I can understand without seeing the drive one can not estimate the issue.

As I am checking from yesterday I am getting multiple results with multiple tapes.

The first test I did is with a used tape, I copied the data of 400gb to it and didn’t occupied any extra space. Thought it solved.
The next test I did with a new tape. I copied the data of 2TB and the tape is filled. Only 4gb space is left. It’s just better than 1.5TB.
Later I did another test with another tape I can able to copy up to 2.31TB and another 100GB space left. It’s cool actually. But its taking around 10 hours to finish a tape writing. I still don’t know whether the problem exist or not. Just doing some more tests continuously.
Yesterday I have also run the performance test using code “F” in the drive again. Still has the same error.
As I am writing data to tape I am getting a weird noise like iron squeaking from the drive.

I will post the latest results as well.

HARI KRISHNA PUNE
FCP EDITOR & ARCHIVE MANAGER

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Just a thought.
Since you have a Mac system handy, why don’t you download a 30 day trial of software like Bru-PE or Yoyotta (both Mac only) and write the tape using these. Both these softwares have reporting and logging so you can then involve them in the troubleshooting. Even if there is a hardware issue, the logs will reveal that. Your SAS card should work in the Mac with drivers.

At the moment you’re on your own since IBM has disowned you (very common in India) since you’re out of warranty. And you’re doing a drag and drop copy to LTO which means you’re at the mercy of Windows.

In the long term using some dedicated software to write to LTO tapes is a more robust and stress free activity than staying late at the office struggling with these issues.

Also, as a point of info, (not that it matters in your case), but here in India I’ve found, Tandberg support is much better even years after the warranty expires. They have a guy here who knows his stuff and the company gets fully involved in finding a solution.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Hari Krishna pune]

@ Neil Sadwelkar

Thank you very much for you suggestion. I will try using the trial version of the applications. And yes I am connecting the drive to mac using Atto R680 with the latest driver available. I will also consider fcpguru from mumbai. I will ask his support too. Thank you.

HARI KRISHNA PUNE
FCP EDITOR & ARCHIVE MANAGER

[Hari Krishna pune]

@Neil Sadwelkar

Hi All,

Last night I have put a backup using BRU-PE. By the end I see no errors in the report. Please have a look at the report.

Thank you.

HARI KRISHNA PUNE
FCP EDITOR & ARCHIVE MANAGER

[Hari Krishna pune]

Hi all,

Can anybody tell me how to checkstatus, enable/disable lossless hardware compression using terminal in mac os x 10.13?

HARI KRISHNA PUNE
FCP EDITOR & ARCHIVE MANAGER

[Diego alonso Pantoja barrios]

Hello, Tim. I’m Diego.

I’m working in a film producer and distributor. So I’m very familiar with writing LTO’s from a hard disk and the other way around.

A few weeks ago I ran into the same problem than Hari. My LTO-6 tapes could no longer storage documents like before. They pop up an error report saying that there isn’t enough space on tape and that it’s necessary to put in another tape. And I’m talking about storage just 1Tb per task.

I’ve always been working with the same BRU PE version. So I didn’t thought it was the software’s problem, but the LTO tape’s problem. But it wasn’t either. Because I tried to do a regular backup operation with some old tapes and the error report was still the same than with the new tapes!

So now I’m suspecting that it might be an error from my TC-L62BN LTO- 6 HH Quantum device. I talk to a Quantum support tech and she told me the device’s guaranty expired a yer ago. I’ve tried to apply a Cleaning Cartridge but it doesn’t make any difference.

Thank you for your attention. I hope there’s an easier and cheaper solution than buying a new LTO reader device to write on LTO-6 right again.

[Hari Krishna pune]

@ Diego

I have been through all the possibilities it seems but finally couldn’t find a solution. Brand support finally responded and suggested me to go for a new drive as per the symptoms.

I don’t know where you are from. If you are from USA try contacting Tim Gerhard, Magstor Inc who is providing services for drives. He may help you. Fingers crossed.

I am finally going for a new 8 th generation drive. Backing up all the 6th generation tapes back to disks and renting a 6th generation drive to do that for now.

HARI KRISHNA PUNE
FCP EDITOR & ARCHIVE MANAGER