I'm having a tough time restoring data from an LTO tape and could use some help. I've been trying for a week now with no success, even though HPE Tape Tools indicates that the volume is consistent. Here are some details:
The tape is LTFS formatted and I'm trying to access it on a Windows 10 machine that's not connected to the internet, just to local network drives. The transfer speeds are unusually slow at around 20MB/s, whether I'm restoring to a RAID or network storage. Normally, we see much faster speeds.
Additionally, it seems like the tape drive is seeking after every file, which isn't how it usually operates in our workflow. The process often comes to a halt midway through copying a file, causing Total Commander and other applications like FastCopy and TeraCopy to crash.
I've also set up a Linux system with the tape drive and saw slightly better speeds of about 80MB/s, but still not at the expected 300MB/s. The same freezing issue occurs, and I can't access the LTFS mount point without restarting the system. When I run the command `ltfs -o device_list`, the tape drive doesn't show up, although it does appear with `lsscsi`.
Does anyone have any advice on how I can recover the data on this tape? I've really hit a wall here!
1 Answer
Have you checked if the tape drive has proper airflow? I struggled with similar issues for months, and it turned out my internal tape drives were overheating due to inadequate fans. Make sure your drive isn't getting too hot and throttling down. If it’s external and properly ventilated, you might be in the clear.
Also, I've had my share of issues with LTFS getting corrupted before, so it's worth considering that too!
Thanks for the suggestion! The tape drive is an external HPE Ultrium 8, and it's been running smoothly in a well-cooled rack for over three years.
What if you try putting in a different tape to see if you get the same behavior? Might help narrow down if it's the drive or the tape.