[Info-vax] HP Surestore DAT24 firmware download?

[smithfarm]

Continuation of my DDS-3 tape drive saga.

I obtained a different SCSI controller (Host Bus Adapter) -- an Adaptec 
which is recognized by Windows XP. Installed HP Library & Tape Tools. 
Downloaded the latest firmware and tried to install it - it failed. The 
drive still works, though, and the behavior I am seeing is the same as 
before, so I don't think the unsuccessful firmware update damaged the drive.

The drive continues to exhibit the following behavior: it writes data to 
tapes just fine (no errors), but all attempts to read are unsuccessful. 
Depending on the program used, the read either fails without reading a 
single block, or it reads a few blocks (sometimes up to 1/3 or 1/2 of 
the size of the archive) before failing. But fail it does, every time.

Windows Backup fails to read a single block (error message about 
"inconsistencies" on the media). Linux tar will read a small fraction of 
the data before giving an error. The size of what is successfully read 
differs from controller to controller. HP Library & Tape Tools reads the 
most, but also fails with an I/O error before reaching the end of the 
save-set.

I have not tried backup/restore on the rx2600 yet, but at this point I'm 
assuming it will be the same story there as well.

Intriguingly, the HP Library & Tape Tools "DDS Drive Assessment Test", 
which also writes to and reads from the drive, is successful (on both 
OpenVMS and Windows). However, when I go from there to the "Write/Read 
test", which writes 4 GB of data and then reads it back, it fails about 
1/3 of the way through the read (in the Windows version; haven't tried 
this on VMS yet.)

I have gleaned the following information so far:

(1) The drive is an Ultra Narrow SE device (50-pin connector).

(2) I have a 50-pin to 68-pin converter on the drive, and from there 
I've got a classic terminated ribbon cable for two devices + the 
controller.

(3) The drive is device no. 2 on the bus, and the controller is device 
no. 7. There are no other devices on the bus.

(4) The manual has this to say:

The drive does not support termination on the device itself. Normally, 
drives such as this are not required to be at the end of a bus, but if 
this is unavoidable, HP recommends the use of the feed-through SCSI 
terminator listed below, which plugs directly into the rear of the 
drive. Use active termination because the drive is capable of a transfer 
rate greater than 5 MB/s.

...

When using feed-through termination, termination power must be supplied 
to pin 26 of the SCSI Interface. Power can be supplied by any device on 
the bus. If you want the drive to supply it, set a jumper across the two 
pins marked “Term power” in figure 2.7.

(5) The setting of the "Term power" jumper (on/off) has no effect on the 
test results.

Any idea what could be causing this "write ok, read not-ok" problem? Can 
it be termination-related? (I thought improper termination always 
resulted in the drive not being recognized at all.)

Thanks,
Nathan