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LTO3A Experiences / Woes

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zak forrest

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Who has an LTO3A drive? I received mine a few weeks ago and after several errors and log files emailed to Quantum, I was told that my drive was defective. A few days ago I received my replacement LTO3A drive from and I'm putting it through it's paces now: Transferring data to and from tapes before I trash anything to make sure everything is working correctly.

It makes me very nervous to throw footage away now, even though I got the drive replaced. It all seems so fragile, since I began my LTO3A experience with so many errors..

SO- anyone that has the LTO3A drive, how are you verifying that your files are being copied properly? When I got my errors on the other drive, it was when transferring the files from the tape back to my hard disk. I was really upset because I never had an error message when transferring the files to the tape. Shouldn't that be the way the drive works, that it would inform you that the transfer to tape failed? Quantum said my drive was defective, so maybe that was the problem. The whole experience has been very vague, I haven't had good experience with Quantum's tech support at all. It's all very scary. I hope that someone out there with an LTO3A drive responds and tells me they have recieved error messages before when copying to the tape.. I really don't like being told the files weren't copied correctly only after the fact, after they are thrown away, and I am trying to get them off the tape...


UPDATE {MARCH 24TH 2007}:

Quantum just called me and said they were incredibly embarrassed and sorry for what has been going on. They said that due to my log files and one other customer, they have discovered a nasty bug in the LTO3A drive's firmware.

They are going to issue an patch in about two weeks which will fix this bug. He said they were "extremely confident" that it will be totally resolved with the new patch.

The new patch is also going to fix the java applet user interface which definitely needs some work.

I'm bummed that my first experience with tape drives and quantum was such a nightmare, but I'm really glad that they are on the case now and it's getting resolved.

He said for now, keep the tapes under 250GB and I should be bug free. When you go over that limit something gets messed up with the table of contents and the tape accidentally writes over the files that it had just written, or something like that..
 
Hopefully that was a read problem with the drive, rather than a write problem. It should tell you if it fails to write properly. If it's written okay, but the read fails, well you can always try another drive! Do you still have the tape that failed in the last drive? Because it would obviously be worth testing if it could be read properly in your new non-faulty drive.

I'm still a little unsure about the A-series, primarially for their incompatibility with other LTO drives. However I understand this is at a software level - the A-series essentially includes it's own management software, so in theory that should be able to be replicated by a software application, but it will be dependent on Quantum to release/license the details.
 
That's why I am so frightened.

I put the old tape that gave me errors in the new drive today, and got the same error on the same file that gave me trouble last time (which had never given me a write error, it appeared to have been written just fine...)

but it could just be the fact that my drive was "defective" (whatever that means... another really strange/scary/vague thing.. "defective drive" ???

thanks for posting dylan =]
 
That is slightly alarming...

I guess it underscores the fact you need to test, test and test some more before doing anything serious.

This reminds me of using a video camera where the heads were slightly out of alignment. It recorded and played back fine, but nothing else would play it.
 
On the drive thing wellcome to LTO-3 I've been through so many. Thats why you make two copies with different drives.
 
Jeff,

Are you saying that write errors is a constant problem with LTO-3?
 
Jeff Brue said:
On the drive thing wellcome to LTO-3 I've been through so many. Thats why you make two copies with different drives.
Click to expand...

This is best practice.

And if you only have one drive - you should always make a master + protection copy regardless.

I have yet to have any error on our LTO3A drive - which runs everyday - pushing and pulling R3D files.

We are about to purchase another so we can dual-stream over ethernet and write two at the same time.
 
zak forrest said:
I've been making two copies of everything and I get the same errors on the same files. It doesn't want to write certain files..
Click to expand...

Zak - the drive will give you an error when you try to write over the 400G limit of the tape - are you saying you can put a fresh tape in - and just copy those files and get an error?
 
Offhollywood said:
Zak - the drive will give you an error when you try to write over the 400G limit of the tape - are you saying you can put a fresh tape in - and just copy those files and get an error?
Click to expand...

The two folders I'm trying to copy to tape and back to hard drive total 292GB.

When I try to copy just the file that it errors on every time (with a fresh tape) it works fine.

But every time I copy the two folders to tape and then back to disk it errors on the same file.

The file has nothing special in its filename, all I'm doing is copying .rdc folders generated by the camera, with whatever filenames the camera gave them.

If anyone knows a good person at Quantum I could contact that would be great. My "guy" at Quantum never returns emails. When I call I get someone in India who doesn't have a clue, and it takes hours to talk to them.

I really don't want to throw in the towel, especially because of what great results Mark Pedersen is having with the drive (and because I think there will be some sweet software soon that takes advantage of LTO3A), but what is the next most cost effective solution for backing up footage? (I'm shooting a feature, with tons of footage. Improvised/documentary esque.
 
Could be bad tape too!

Could be bad tape too!

I'm get delivery of my LTO 4 this week and will let you know how it goes. But one thing I've been told is you have watch which tape brand you use.
The best out is Fuji tape and you could also try a cleaning tape. I going to get a LTO4 driving from SpectraLogic as are a smaller company use IBM Drives with great service. The software I'm going to use is netvault Backup from bakbone, you can download the software and try it for free.
 
Offhollywood said:
Zak - the drive will give you an error when you try to write over the 400G limit of the tape - are you saying you can put a fresh tape in - and just copy those files and get an error?
Click to expand...

Mark what brand tapes do you use? I've been using Quantum as it's what came with the drive and I thought I should stick to the same brand..
 
zak forrest said:
Mark what brand tapes do you use? I've been using Quantum as it's what came with the drive and I thought I should stick to the same brand..
Click to expand...
Zak - email me your phone # - mark (at) offhollywoodstudios.com and I will TRY to call you this evening and trouble shoot over the phone -
 
Offhollywood said:
Zak - email me your phone # - mark (at) offhollywoodstudios.com and I will TRY to call you this evening and trouble shoot over the phone -
Click to expand...

Mark, would really appreciate if you can post what's wrong with Zak problems after you talk to him. I have a LT03A on order.

Lim
 
I have a feeling mark can't help me, it seems like its really messed up. I hope he can help though =] I do appreciate anyone that takes the time to talk to me about it, it's very nice of him.

Lim- I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on whatever happens with me. I seem to be the only one having trouble with this drive.
 
zak forrest said:
I have a feeling mark can't help me, it seems like its really messed up. I hope he can help though =] I do appreciate anyone that takes the time to talk to me about it, it's very nice of him.

Lim- I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on whatever happens with me. I seem to be the only one having trouble with this drive.
Click to expand...

Zak, I am buying the FieldMaster from Silverado. The LT0-3A is included in the package. Maybe you can contact Torrey can help.

Lim
 
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