Re: cannot read tar archive from tape: directory checksum error

From: Doug Freyburger (dfreybur_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 08/16/04

  • Next message: Joe Chung: "Re: /var/mail BOGUS files" 
    Date: 16 Aug 2004 11:59:28 -0700

    news.amnet.net.au wrote:
    >
    > I have a tar archive spanning over two tapes. The tapes are DDS-1 tapes and
    > an old Irix indigo with a tape drive has been used in the past to read/write
    > from and to these tapes.
    >
    > I recently wanted to recover some data from these two tapes, but when I
    > issued the command
    > irix>tar xpf /dev/tape /tmp
    > I get the following error:
    > tar: directory checksum error

    Most likely density. Does "dd if=/dev/tape of=/dev/null" say
    zero blocks? If so try a brute force search for a low enough
    density to read it. Something like:

    for i in /dev/rmt/* ; do
      echo ${i}
      mt -f ${i} rewind
      sleep 1
      dd if=${i} of=/dev/null
    done

    Watch it run and see if any options report a tape with data.
    Try a similar loop with tar tvf if you like.

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