Backup tapes and 'tar: tape write error'
The usual cause of this is the wrong size tape in the tape drive.
There are five common sizes of tape:
| Tape | Capacity |
|---|---|
| DC600 | 60Mb |
| DC6150 | 150Mb |
| DC6250 | 250Mb |
| DC6525 | 525Mb |
| DC9100 | 1Gb |
There are four tape drives in common use: at the lower end of the range: 60Mb and the 250Mb drives. You can tell the difference by the colour of the light during backup.
| Red | 60Mb |
| Yellow | 250Mb |
On the larger systems you will find 525Mb and 1Gb drives, these also have yellow lights and they have a flap that protects the drive when no tape is installed.
Make sure you use the correct capacity tape for your drive. If you are at all unsure then please contact support.
Some Do's Dont's etc.
- It does not matter how big a tape drive you have, if the amount
of data exceeds the capacity of the tape being used above you
will get an error.
e.g. If you have a 250Mb tape drive and are using 6150 tapes you will get an error after 150Mb of data has been written.
- High capacity tapes generated on the larger drives will not be
readable on lower capacity ones.
e.g. A 6525 tape cannot be read in a 250Mb tape drive.
- If 6150/6250 tapes are used in larger drives then these CAN be read
by the 250Mb tape drives.
- Don't have a mixture of tapes, check them today and put any 'odd'
tapes to one side.
- Tapes do wear out - replace them every so often e.g. once a year.