Home | Contact Us | Submit Troubleshooting Info | Search | Help


    Output | Software Solutions | Proofing | Color, Screening and Calibration | Scanning | Digital Photography | Consumables | POS

Archive tapes are completed prematurely

Product

 AIT drive firmware

Symptoms

  Some errors can cause archive tapes to be completed prematurely. The AIT drive ejects the tape before an EOD marker can be written to the tape. When the archiver attempts to reuse the tape, it cannot locate the EOD marker and marks the tape as being completed.

Cause

 Some errors force the drive to eject the tape.

Solution

 

Sony has released new AIT drive firmware with an improvement that forces the drive to write an EOD marker on the archive tape before ejecting it. This allows the archiver to append data to the tape. The new firmware versions are:

How to identify AIT-3C and AIT-3V drives:

  • Serial numbers: AIT-3C, 209xxxx, AIT-3V, 135xxxx
  • AIT-3C has blue LED lights, AIT-3V has green LED lights (inject a cleaning tape to check)
  • AIT-3C labeled SDX-700C, AIT-3V labeled SDX-700V
  • AIT-3C firmware major version number ends with a non-zero number (0202, 0204, 0207, and so on)
  • AIT-3V firmware major version number ends with a zero (0100, 0200)

How to verify firmware version level: In the Windows Registry, locate HKLM\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\Scsi\Scsi Port x\Scsi Bus 0\Target Id x\Logical Unit Id 0. The firmware major revision level is shown in the Identifier value, which gets updated at startup. You can also use this procedure:

  1. If you don't already have it, download and install the Sony Tape Tool utility.
  2. Stop the Archiver JTP, and stop and disable Removable Storage Management (RSM).
  3. Start the Sony Tape Tool. A list of installed SCSI devices will appear.
  4. Select the Sony tape drive.
  5. The drive identification window lists the firmware major revision level.

Qualstar labels each internal drive with the firmware version the drive is shipped with, and plans to do the same with standalone drives. The label has the major and sub-revision level information (for example, 0200_j15). Kodak recommendeds that you relabel a drive with the installed firmware version whenever you do an upgrade.

Sony has released two sub-revisions of firmware version 0200. There are two ways to verify the sub-revision level:

  1. Check the label on the drive.
  2. Run a long report using the Sony Tape Tool, then open the report using a text editor (for example, Wordpad), and seach for the word firmware.

How to upgrade the AIT drive firmware: After upgrading the firmware, relabel the drive with the new firmware version. If you perform the upgrade remotely, ask the customer to relabel the drive by overwriting the existing sticker label. This will make it easier to verify the firmware version in future.

Technical Contact(s)
 

Philip Samaniego

Submitted by
 

Philip Samaniego

Date Submitted
 

13 Apr 2006

    Copyright © 2005 Creo Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential. Back to top.