Xref: utzoo comp.sys.sun:15484 alt.sys.sun:4407 Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!nkivxh!cutmcvax!flint From: flint@cutmcvax.cs.curtin.edu.au (Daniel Baldoni) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun,alt.sys.sun Subject: Writing small files to tape Keywords: QIC-150, tape, dd, write, vmunix, system call, BUG Message-ID: Date: 17 Jun 91 08:17:03 GMT Sender: news@cutmcvax.cs.curtin.edu.au (Usenet News System) Organization: Curtin University of Technology, Computing Science Lines: 35 Approved: sun-spots@rice.edu X-Original-Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1991 16:30 +8:00 Nntp-Posting-Host: cutmcvax.cs.curtin.edu.au Recently, I've come across an annoying problem while trying to write some small files to our tape drive. We suspect it's a problem with the SCSI tape device driver. Here's the session: cain-22> dir file.1 -rw------- 1 flint staff 240 Jun 13 10:27 file.1 Firstly, just to show not a problem with dd or the write system call: cain-28> dd if=file.1 of=tmp 0+1 records in 0+1 records out Now, attempt the same operation but to tape: cain-29> dd if=file.1 of=/dev/rst0 dd: write: Invalid argument 0+1 records in 0+1 records out Note that adjusting the block-size does not help in any way. What is interesting is that tar works fine with the same small file. We're running SunOS 4.1.1 on an IPC - the tape drive is a QIC-150. Actually, we've got the same problem on two IPC's (with two tape drives) - so it's not likely a hardware fault. If you've got any idea on how to fix this, PLEASE let me know (preferrably via e-mail). -- Daniel Baldoni