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From: arritt@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Backups - simple question
Message-ID: <1991Jun4.122357.31249@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
Date: 4 Jun 91 12:23:57 CDT
References: <9106032216.AA22384@koko.pdi.com>
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services
Lines: 30

In article <9106032216.AA22384@koko.pdi.com>, shoshana@pdi.UUCP (Shoshana Abrass) writes:
> 
>   If one of the cartridges has a bad spot, it does what I think is 
>   the wrong thing.  For example, tape 1 and 2 have been successfully
>   written. Files are being written to tape 3. Suddenly the driver
>   encounters a write error and asks for a new tape....

I have found that this is almost always a symptom of a dirty tape
drive.  The QIC drive apparently is very sensitive in this regard.
I'm willing to bet that if you clean the drive this problem will
go away.

Also I've found the QIC drive to be somewhat sensitive to the
brand of tape used.  In my experience 3M cartridges are quite good,
Verbatim is ok.  One time our vendor switched brands on us and
sent us some called "Data Mag" which were utterly atrocious.  Since
the difference in price is only a dollar or two it pays to specify
a reliable brand.  Also explicitly state to your vendor that you are
specifying a brand -- often they reserve the right to substitute
"equivalent" products.
________________________________________________________________________
Raymond W. Arritt                     | 
Assistant Professor                   |
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy        |  "People never travel to look 
University of Kansas                  |   at flat landscapes."
Lawrence, KS  66045                   |     - from _Stop Making Sense_ , 
arritt@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu             |       by the Talking Heads        
arritt@walrus.phsx.ukans.edu          |
arritt@ukanvax.bitnet                 |