Need help with an HP SureStore Dat24x6

[Gouki]

Just here recently at work we got ourselves a Tape Drive so we can start doing backups. Course this isn't without problems...

Here's some info:

Fileserver is running NT 4.0, SCSI Host Adapter Card is Adaptec 29160 and the drive is an HP SureStore Dat24x6. Also, this tape drive is the only device attached to the SCSI card. SCSI ID is 5.

Got the latest drivers for the SCSI card and drivers for the tape drive. The SCSI card shows up in NT and shows that it has a tape drive attached to it. The Tape drive shows up in Tape Devices and shows to be working properly.

However...the drive does not show up in Explorer (I'm assuming that it would show up as a removeable hard drive) and when I go into NT Backup, it detects the drive but I can't access it. It switches from telling me that there's no tape in the drive (when there is) to saying that the drive is not ready.

Any ideas?

[DVNT1]

I had several of these before but used them with Netware and not NT. The only obvious thing I can think of is to ensure the SCSI is terminated.

As a side note, these are not meant to handle frequent use. They will break down quickly if you backup 2 or 3 tapes worth of data every night.

[Gouki]

Ya I forgot to mention that...but this drive was in use before by our sister company and the techies there assured me that they used the same setup, it was the only device on the chain...so therefore it should be terminated.

How would I go about finding out if it is terminated or not? Also forgot to mention that this is an external drive...

[Gouki]

Ok.

I'm an idiot.

I'll admit, it's my first time ever messing with a tape backup drive. lol. I was looking at the front of the tape drive and on the display there's 2 columns. One with 1, 2, 3 and the other with 4, 5, 6..representing the six tapes that can be loaded on the drive. Then next to those columns is another number...the number of which tape was currently loaded. This number was 0.

Doh.

Soon as I pressed the button to cycle the tapes and changed it to 1, then I was able to access it. Go figure. lol.

I guess alls well that ends...