[Info-vax] Getting tape drive errors make no sense

[glen herrmannsfeldt]

Ken Fairfield <ken.fairfield at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Friday, October 25, 2013 12:33:26 PM UTC-7, tadamsmar wrote:
>> I tried to copy a large save-set (a full disk backup) from tape to a 
>> large disk.  That is I am just trying to copy the file from tape to 
>> disk, not trying to restore a volume.
 
> And what is the block size of the saveset you're trying to copy to disk?
> If you wonder why I'm asking, this could very well be your problem.

I am not sure what you mean, but I have seen SCSI tape drives 
reblock data. They can be set to always write with a fixed block
size like 1K, or they can be set to write each block to the 
appropriate size, sometimes called variable length.

If it is set different than you expect, the results can be
surprising.

-- glen