SUMMARY: Exabyte 5 GB

From: Zod Mansour (zod@ncube.com)
Date: Fri Jul 10 1992 - 02:49:15 CDT


There are three parts to this message:

1) The original posting/problem
2) Acknowledgements and thanks
3) Solutions

###########################################################################
1)
> Dear Managers:
>
> I have an exb-8500 which is a 5 GB exabyte. I can't get
> more than 2 GB in there. I am dumping over ethernet to
> a remote host:
>
> DUMP=/usr/etc/dump
> for i in $system1; do
> $DUMP 0ubcfsd 112 admin:/dev/nrst8 10380 4100000 $i
> done
>
> These parameters were discussed earlier and was to be
> working.
>
> I am dumping from a 490 running 4.1.1 into the exb-8500 connected
> to a diskless sparc1 also running 4.1.1.

Captain Zod...
zod@ncube.com
###########################################################################
2)
Many thanks to the following people for responding:

hennig@darmstadt.gmd.de
birger@vest.sdata.no
craigb@ips.oz.au
alastair@eucad.co.uk
MIESCH@TAURUS.dnet.ge.com
Wolfg.Koppenhoefer wk@ict.fhg.de
Daniel@europarc.xerox.com
Zbyslaw@europarc.xerox.com
baumann@proton.llumc.edu
sarafian@analog.com
era@niwot.scd.ucar.EDU
###########################################################################
3)
Solution:
Some people stated that exb-8500s can't be used on a 4.1.1 machine
to get their 5 GB full capacity, and attempts will only result in
getting the max of 2.2 to 2.5 GB. However this is not the case for 4.1.2.
4.1.2 will recognize.

The above statement is not true. After talking with Exabyte, who where very
helpful, and looking at more mail messages, I came-up with the following
conclusions:

On 4.1.2 machines it's of outmost importance to use the correct device.
I am not sure if this is the case for 4.1.1 and it didn't make any difference.

st0 - st7 Exb-8200 format 2.3 GB
st8 - st15 Exb-8500 format 5 GB

On 4.1.1 machines it's of outmost importance to use new tapes, and not
use the old tapes used on a Exb-8200. There is no way to reuse the tapes
unless they are erased with a particular device first. This seemed to be
the key, because I remember dumping 5 GB with a new tape. But then I doubted
myself and thought I was crazy, for nothing had been changed! All the
parameters and file systems were still the same.

birger@vest.sdata.no stated:

>With 4.1.1, make shure you use a new, fresh tape. If you use a tape
>that has been written in 2Gb format, it will continue doing so.
>
>Or upgrade to 4.1.2, where rst0 is 2Gb and rst8 is 5Gb.
>
>Or hack st_conf.c in the kernel tree yourself.
>I'm attaching /usr/kvm/sys/scsi/targets/st_conf.c here, so you can
>merge the changes with the 4.1.1 file and make a new kernel.

However the above file does not exist under 4.1.1 and is in 4.1.2 release.
The equivalence exist in /usr/sys/sundev/streg.h under 4.1.1. Exabyte corp
pointed to this file. You would have to enter the following lines into this
file and rebuild the kernel. There was a difference between the Exabyte's
and the birger@vest.sdata.no's way. I will list them both. I used the
Exabyte's way. Rebuilt the kernel and used my old tapes to no avail. Next
I will try birger@vest.sdata.no's way and see if it makes any difference.

1) birger@vest.sdata.no's way:

Beware of the spaces they are actually tabs.
/* Exabyte 8mm 5GB cartridge */
{
        "Exabyte EXB-8500 8mm Helical Scan", 16, "EXABYTE EXB-8500",
        ST_TYPE_EXB8500, 1024,
        (ST_VARIABLE | ST_BSF | ST_BSR | ST_LONG_ERASE),
        5000, 5000,
        { 0x14, 0x00, 0x8C, 0x8C },
        { 0, 0, 0, 0 }
},

2) Exabyte's way:

/* Exabyte 8mm helical 5 GB, 4.1.1 */ \
{ "Exabyte EXB-8500 8mm", 16, "EXABYTE EXB-8500", ST_TYPE_EXABYTE, \
   1024, (ST_VARIABLE | ST_BSF | ST_BSR | ST_LONG_ERASE | ST_PHYSREC), \
   30, 30, 30, 30, 60, 60, 60, 60, \
   0x14, 0x00, 0x0C, 0x0C, 0, 0, 0, 0 }, \

Most people were correct though. New tapes have to be used.
                                ============================

Captain Zod...



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