At 21:53 05/08/00 +0100, you wrote:
> > Are the errors being caused by the software not being written for ftape
> > (and therefore not understanding the delays that are involved with
> > floppy/parallel port tape drives), ftape itself (which I doubt but thought
> > I would ask!), my tape drive, or a combination?
>
>You may like to take a look at /var/log/messages to see what ftape
>says about `Device busy'.
I have been tracking the content of messages and nothing has appeared out
of the ordinary.
>ftape automatically locks the device when in use, so if a process
>running in the background hasn't closed it (for example, because the
>tape is still rewinding), then a new process started to handle
>something else will not be able to open the device. I think at least
>one backup program may be affected by this.
>
>It could be a program timing out waiting for an operation on the
>drive, but then it shouldn't really be saying `Device busy', but
>`timeout' or something, so I doubt it is that.
>
>Does plain old tar, cpio, afio, dump etc. get affected by this?
The backup programs (note plural, I'm trying a few to see which work!) I
use all use tar/afio/buffer.
I have a script that rewinds the tape and unloads the ftape modules - even
this is telling me that the 'device or resource is busy' when I can plainly
see that it's not (no activity and the activity light is also off).
I went back to ftape 4.x_1999_09_11 and everything (so far) has worked just
fine. It looks like it's the new version of ftape that is causing the
problems for me :-(
Paul
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
