/dev/tape ?

trossachs · Veteran Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 1204 Location: London

What is the device description for a scsi tape drive and how would I go about mounting this device? Can I automatically mount this in /etc/fstab, what options should I use?

Also, does anyone have any idea how I can use rsync to perform a one-off basic backup of my system onto tape, with periodic ones to follow? thx.

EvilTwinSkippy · Posted: Sun Feb 29, 2004 2:49 am Post subject: Scsi Tapes

SCSI tapes aren't generally mounted. You use them as a block device. Peer through your kernel logs to see if it mentions any tape devices.

They are usually at /dev/st(a|b|c...) or /dev/sg(a|b|c...)

To read from a tape: tar xf /dev/sta
To write to a tape: tar cf /dev/sta /foo

(I recommend you consult a handy backup howto.)

Make sure you grab the mtx tools to control the tape drive (rewind, eject, change tape, etc.)
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trossachs · Veteran Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 1204 Location: London

Which 'kernel logs' are you referring to? /var/log/messages? If so, I can see no mention of scsi or tape devices.

dogshu · Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 3:26 am Post subject:

Your first scsi tape drive should be /dev/st0, your second should be /dev/st1, etcetera.

You can see your kernel logs with the "dmesg" command. Try running this to see what your scsi tape drive is called:

trossachs · Veteran Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 1204 Location: London

After I run that command, this is what I see:

dogshu · Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 6:13 pm Post subject:

Well, if you just do a "dmesg" you can look through the whole thing and see what it has to say about your SCSI adapter.

Here's what my kernel has to say about my SCSI adapter and my many SCSI devices:

trossachs · Veteran Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 1204 Location: London

As I said in my previous post, I seem to have a prob with my Adaptec card as illustrated above. Will check to see whether or not support has been compiled into the kernel but I am sure it is.

trossachs · Veteran Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 1204 Location: London

Have just booted the box and replaced both scsi card and cable with a set that I know works and still nothing. Have definately compiled all the info I need into the kernel, so cannot understand as to why this won't show up.

Is there any other clues I should be looking for?

dogshu · Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:30 pm Post subject:

well, I guess you can do a "/sbin/lspci" to see if the PCI bus even sees your SCSI card. You need to "emerge pciutils" first.

Under Linux 2.6.3, there are 6 different drivers for various Adaptec SCSI cards, so maybe you should compile them all as modules, then try modprobing each driver one by one to see if any of them work for you.

trossachs · Veteran Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 1204 Location: London

Well I have an Adaptec AHA-2940W/2940UW scsi adapter, but I cannot see a driver available within the compile kernel list. I've emerged pciutils, and have googled around, but I can see no website or instructions on how to use it!

dogshu · Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 12:20 am Post subject:

I'm pretty sure you use the same driver as me, the aic7xxx driver. Try doing a "modprobe aic7xxx", if that doesn't work try enabling "Adaptec AIC7xxx Fast -> U160 support (New Driver)" under SCSI->SCSI- low-level drivers in your kernel.

trossachs · Veteran Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 1204 Location: London

Will have to try this and see what's what. I am a bit concerned with the error I posted earlier, plus the fact that I have already compiled all references to AIC into the kernel.

The card and device deffinately work as I used them previously under another OS; thus I am quite at a loss.