Compaq AIT 35 LVD Tape Drive

Started by David, October 05, 2011, 08:33:49 AM

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David

October 05, 2011, 08:33:49 AM Last Edit: October 05, 2011, 10:29:34 AM by david
Got one of these external drives that has a tape lodged in it and will not eject. It also has now become invisible to the OS 9 Mac it is connected to with the Ultra SCSI cable.

Recently moved to my department from another building, simply un-plugged and then re-plugged in.

Tried SCSI probe 5.2 to see if it will "see" it... no go...

Retrospect 4.3 (OS 9.2) and Retrospect 6 (OS 10.4) refuse to see it as well in their list of devices.

The Mac (Power PC G4, 466 mhz, 256 mb Ram) in question is running Retrospect 4.3 (old as dirt). This particular version is so old that my newer Retrospect 6 (not quite old as dirt) does not recognize the Backup sets.

Any suggestions on how to remove the tape?
Any suggestions on how to get the newer Retro to see the older backup sets?


 :banghead:
thanks in advance,
David
Prepress guy - Retired - Working from home
Livin' la Vida Loca

David

#1
October 05, 2011, 09:26:43 AM Last Edit: October 05, 2011, 10:29:46 AM by david
Took the SCSI card out of the Mac and put it into a PC running Win 2000 server.
Plugged the tape drive in and booted it up.
PC doesn't see it either, but on the bright side, I finally got the tape out of it.

Moving on to see if changing the SCSI Id number helps at all.
Prepress guy - Retired - Working from home
Livin' la Vida Loca

DigiCorn

#2
October 05, 2011, 10:03:42 AM
Quote from: david on October 05, 2011, 09:26:43 AMTook the SCSI card out of the Mac and put it into a PC running Win 200 server.
Plugged the tape drive in and booted it up.
PC doesn't see it either, but on the bright side, I finally got the tape out of it.

Moving on to see if changing the SCSI Id number helps at all.
That's what I would have recommended.

Can you force Windows to see it by using the Hardware profile? We use the same AIT drive on Windows 2000 with Retrospect 6. If you do move it to Windows from Mac you will need to rebuild the catalog. I forget exactly how, but if this is your goal, I can probably figure it out again. I had to do this once about 3 years ago after a machine crash.

How old is that machine running Windows 200? Didn't know Bill Gates was that old. Does it look like an abacus?
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

David

#3
October 05, 2011, 10:29:20 AM
yeah, win 200 goes a ways back... I think Copernicus was using it to catalog the solar system...

so, far, the PC doesn't see it, haven't tried the hardware profile, yet.
Downloaded the HP StorageWorks Library and Tape Tools to see if it could do me any good... so far, no
Prepress guy - Retired - Working from home
Livin' la Vida Loca

DigiCorn

#4
October 05, 2011, 10:44:35 AM
I remember using the Goog to find appropriate drivers and having to force a square peg into a round hole. It wasn't easy, but it will work. I was once told that you need to salvage the drive if you can because over time friction wears grooves into the tape heads (like matching a bullet casing to a gun barrel) and eventually the tapes will be unreadable by other, similar devices. If you can't find the drivers, I'll go into our system and get the one I used for you.

If I recall, it won't "see" the device per se. You have to tell hardware profile that it's a tape drive, and then pick the model off a list (if it's there) and then feed the driver into it.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

born2print

#5
October 05, 2011, 11:29:48 AM
David, I'm afraid the last time I encountered this issue with my ext AIT it was a dead drive. (time before that was a bad SCSI card)
On the bright side, it was easy to find someone who had one and didn't need it. I think it cost me shipping and a box of homegrown citrus?
good luck
My lips are moving and the sound's coming out
The words are audible but I have my doubts
That you realize what has been said

David

#6
October 05, 2011, 12:48:14 PM
Quote from: DigiCorn on October 05, 2011, 10:44:35 AMI remember using the Goog to find appropriate drivers and having to force a square peg into a round hole. It wasn't easy, but it will work. I was once told that you need to salvage the drive if you can because over time friction wears grooves into the tape heads (like matching a bullet casing to a gun barrel) and eventually the tapes will be unreadable by other, similar devices. If you can't find the drivers, I'll go into our system and get the one I used for you.

If I recall, it won't "see" the device per se. You have to tell hardware profile that it's a tape drive, and then pick the model off a list (if it's there) and then feed the driver into it.

not having any luck with a driver, so if you have one handy, that would be great.
thanks!
Prepress guy - Retired - Working from home
Livin' la Vida Loca

DigiCorn

#7
October 05, 2011, 01:33:13 PM
You have to re-library (Re-catalog) your old tapes. Each tape takes a few hours. When I redid ours, it took 3-4 days. Mostly it's just insert tape, let it read, insert next tape... Problem is you can't pause and retrieve while it's running.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

David

#8
October 05, 2011, 01:38:08 PM
Sad thing is the tape drive is so old it uses a different format tape than my other tape drives. I need to get this one running in order to re-catalog the old tapes to a new format (from V4.3 to V6 would be ideal).
Trying to not have to buy another old ass tape drive just to do that.

still can't get it to mount on any comp here.

color me bummed.

oh, and thanks for the drivers, but sadly, no go. I need a .inf format for the driver for some reason.
Prepress guy - Retired - Working from home
Livin' la Vida Loca

DigiCorn

#9
October 05, 2011, 02:40:36 PM
Did you get my email? HP now hosts Compaq drivers, and that's where I downloaded mine from. I fed in the specs for the driver and the OS and then downloaded what they had and it worked. Windows 2000 didn't "see" my drive either. But then again, mine was IDE I believe, and not SCSI.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Joe

#10
October 05, 2011, 03:03:53 PM
Are you getting any blinking lights on the tape drive?

Also, you should be getting some info at boot up about the SCSI card and tape drive. Should be a key combo flash on the screen for getting into the SCSI card settings at boot before Windows loads. If you are not seeing anything it probably means either the card or drive or both are DOA.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

David

#11
October 05, 2011, 03:29:19 PM
@digi: yes I got the email, downloaded and had to go to a meeting - I will attempt to install the new driver soon.

@joe: yes, there are the blinking lights on boot up. I finally got the tape out which tells me it's not "too' dead, so if I can get the right driver maybe the PC will recognize it and let me do something with the Retrospect archives.

cross your fingers and I'll let you know the outcome.

thanks!
Prepress guy - Retired - Working from home
Livin' la Vida Loca
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