Help on install tape drive in RedHat Linux 8.0
 

Hi All,

I want to install an old Sun's tape drive (72-144 Gbyte 4mm DDS-3 Autoloader) in my new dell server (OS: RedHat Linux 8.0).

I added a SCSI card (AHA-2940) and connected the tape drive with the SCSI card by some cable. When I restart the server, the system automatically detect the new hardware (the scsi controller card).

I am wondering how I could know whether the tape drive is working or not? Anything I need to do in order for the tape drive to work?

I am a newbie to linux and I really appreciate your suggestions! Thanks!

Sandy

You could always try to write something out to the tape device, and then restore it to another location. Something like tarring up a directory would be a quick test.

You shouldn't have to do anything. RH should create the tape devices for you and you should be able to see the tape drive in the RH hardare GUI.

Install the mt tape utilities.
mt -f /dev/st0 status

/dev/st0 will rewind tape upon command completion
/dev/nst0 will not rewind tape.

You can write to tape using tar or dd.

I tried mt -f /dev/st0 status, but there is something wrong (/dev/st0: No such device). The system does not recognize the tape drive. What do I need to do in order for the system to recognize the tape drive? Thanks!