Onstream D130 30G Tape Backup keeps ejecting ADR Carts

Pentium III 450 Windows 98

I have an Onstream 30G D130 (internal IDE) tape drive that suddenly has
started ejecting ADR cartages after years of reliable service.

I insert a cartage and hear the usual whirring sound. After a while the
cartage ejects. The Onstream web sites seems to be devoid of
information, just a lot of Google links. Can anyone point me in a
direction where I can find some user support to troubleshoot this problem?

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Previously Brian K wrote:
Pentium III 450 Windows 98

I have an Onstream 30G D130 (internal IDE) tape drive that suddenly has
started ejecting ADR cartages after years of reliable service.

I insert a cartage and hear the usual whirring sound. After a while the
cartage ejects. The Onstream web sites seems to be devoid of
information, just a lot of Google links. Can anyone point me in a
direction where I can find some user support to troubleshoot this problem?

Dirty drive head? Did you celan it regularly wit a cleaning cartridge?

Arno
--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus

On 12/28/2004 9:21 AM Arno Wagner after seeing Puppetry of the Penis
remarked:

Previously Brian K wrote:


Pentium III 450 Windows 98





I have an Onstream 30G D130 (internal IDE) tape drive that suddenly has
started ejecting ADR cartages after years of reliable service.





I insert a cartage and hear the usual whirring sound. After a while the
cartage ejects. The Onstream web sites seems to be devoid of
information, just a lot of Google links. Can anyone point me in a
direction where I can find some user support to troubleshoot this problem?



Dirty drive head? Did you celan it regularly wit a cleaning cartridge?

Arno


I cleaned it with a cleaning cartridge fairly regularly. I did so just
before posting this message. I'll give it another shot.

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

On 12/28/2004 7:46 PM Brian K after seeing Puppetry of the Penis remarked:

On 12/28/2004 9:21 AM Arno Wagner after seeing Puppetry of the Penis
remarked:

Previously Brian K wrote:


Pentium III 450 Windows 98





I have an Onstream 30G D130 (internal IDE) tape drive that suddenly
has started ejecting ADR cartages after years of reliable service.





I insert a cartage and hear the usual whirring sound. After a while
the cartage ejects. The Onstream web sites seems to be devoid of
information, just a lot of Google links. Can anyone point me in a
direction where I can find some user support to troubleshoot this
problem?



Dirty drive head? Did you celan it regularly wit a cleaning cartridge?

Arno


I cleaned it with a cleaning cartridge fairly regularly. I did so
just before posting this message. I'll give it another shot.

OK I used the cleaning cartridge again. I reinstalled the backup
software. I even re-updated the firmware. Nothing seems to work. Has
Onstream gone out of business? I can't seem to find user support. Do i
have an EX-backup tape drive?

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Previously Brian K wrote:
On 12/28/2004 7:46 PM Brian K after seeing Puppetry of the Penis remarked:

On 12/28/2004 9:21 AM Arno Wagner after seeing Puppetry of the Penis
remarked:
[...]
Dirty drive head? Did you celan it regularly wit a cleaning cartridge?

Arno


I cleaned it with a cleaning cartridge fairly regularly. I did so
just before posting this message. I'll give it another shot.

OK I used the cleaning cartridge again. I reinstalled the backup
software. I even re-updated the firmware. Nothing seems to work. Has
Onstream gone out of business? I can't seem to find user support. Do i
have an EX-backup tape drive?

O.K., so you know ttape drives need regular cleaning. Hmmm.
Still looks like a hardware issue to me. First of all, don't
panic ;-)

There is one other failure mode I have observed in tape drives:
Some use a optical sensor to detect punched-out holes in the tape.
If there is dust in its path, it may fail. A cleaning cartridge does
not help for that, compressed air in the right place does. However
I do not know whether this can happen with the on-stream system. With
QIC-80 it was fairly common.

One other consideration: If OnStream is not in the market anymore,
that massively decreases the worth of your backup-system, since
what do you do if your drive breaks permenently? (Asuming it can
be repaired this time.)

Of course you could pay a commercial data recovery outfit to get at
your data when you need it, but changing to a newer system may be
cheaper and simpler. If you dos so, the consensus here seems to be
that for smaller-scale backups external HDDs or HDDs in swappable
bays are the way to go (some people here also advise CD-R(w) and
DVD+/-R(w), but these are not reliable enough for data with any
real worth) or alternatively 3.5" MOD or DVD-RAM for smaller backups.
The problem with tape drives is that they have not kept up with the
capacity increases of HDDs. They are still cost-effective in
tape-libraries with hundresd of tapes but not for smaller set-ups.

Arno
--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus

On 12/29/2004 12:31 PM Arno Wagner after seeing Puppetry of the Penis
remarked:

Previously Brian K wrote:


On 12/28/2004 7:46 PM Brian K after seeing Puppetry of the Penis remarked:





On 12/28/2004 9:21 AM Arno Wagner after seeing Puppetry of the Penis
remarked:


[...]


Dirty drive head? Did you celan it regularly wit a cleaning cartridge?

Arno




I cleaned it with a cleaning cartridge fairly regularly. I did so
just before posting this message. I'll give it another shot.



OK I used the cleaning cartridge again. I reinstalled the backup
software. I even re-updated the firmware. Nothing seems to work. Has
Onstream gone out of business? I can't seem to find user support. Do i
have an EX-backup tape drive?



O.K., so you know ttape drives need regular cleaning. Hmmm.
Still looks like a hardware issue to me. First of all, don't
panic ;-)

There is one other failure mode I have observed in tape drives:
Some use a optical sensor to detect punched-out holes in the tape.
If there is dust in its path, it may fail. A cleaning cartridge does
not help for that, compressed air in the right place does. However
I do not know whether this can happen with the on-stream system. With
QIC-80 it was fairly common.

One other consideration: If OnStream is not in the market anymore,
that massively decreases the worth of your backup-system, since
what do you do if your drive breaks permenently? (Asuming it can
be repaired this time.)

Of course you could pay a commercial data recovery outfit to get at
your data when you need it, but changing to a newer system may be
cheaper and simpler. If you dos so, the consensus here seems to be
that for smaller-scale backups external HDDs or HDDs in swappable
bays are the way to go (some people here also advise CD-R(w) and
DVD+/-R(w), but these are not reliable enough for data with any
real worth) or alternatively 3.5" MOD or DVD-RAM for smaller backups.
The problem with tape drives is that they have not kept up with the
capacity increases of HDDs. They are still cost-effective in
tape-libraries with hundresd of tapes but not for smaller set-ups.

Arno


I did a little checking using google and dogpile.com search engines.
Onstream, Inc. filed Ch 7 bankruptcy a few years back. I'll make one
more check, to see if the drive is properly seated on it's IDE cable.
That's the one thing I didn't check. Nevertheless, with no additional
ADR cartages available at affordable prices I guess I better start
looking at other backup options.

I really liked the tape drive: because I didn't need to feed additional
media to backup my entire system, and when it finished the job it would
shut my computer off.

I have an old P III 450 100 FSB system. Firewire and hotswapable drives
are not an option. I know, I should get a new computer. I am an
artist. At this point a new computer is not in my budget. :-(

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Previously Brian K wrote:
On 12/29/2004 12:31 PM Arno Wagner after seeing Puppetry of the Penis
remarked:

Previously Brian K wrote:


On 12/28/2004 7:46 PM Brian K after seeing Puppetry of the Penis remarked:





On 12/28/2004 9:21 AM Arno Wagner after seeing Puppetry of the Penis
remarked:


[...]


Dirty drive head? Did you celan it regularly wit a cleaning cartridge?

Arno




I cleaned it with a cleaning cartridge fairly regularly. I did so
just before posting this message. I'll give it another shot.



OK I used the cleaning cartridge again. I reinstalled the backup
software. I even re-updated the firmware. Nothing seems to work. Has
Onstream gone out of business? I can't seem to find user support. Do i
have an EX-backup tape drive?



O.K., so you know ttape drives need regular cleaning. Hmmm.
Still looks like a hardware issue to me. First of all, don't
panic ;-)

There is one other failure mode I have observed in tape drives:
Some use a optical sensor to detect punched-out holes in the tape.
If there is dust in its path, it may fail. A cleaning cartridge does
not help for that, compressed air in the right place does. However
I do not know whether this can happen with the on-stream system. With
QIC-80 it was fairly common.

One other consideration: If OnStream is not in the market anymore,
that massively decreases the worth of your backup-system, since
what do you do if your drive breaks permenently? (Asuming it can
be repaired this time.)

Of course you could pay a commercial data recovery outfit to get at
your data when you need it, but changing to a newer system may be
cheaper and simpler. If you dos so, the consensus here seems to be
that for smaller-scale backups external HDDs or HDDs in swappable
bays are the way to go (some people here also advise CD-R(w) and
DVD+/-R(w), but these are not reliable enough for data with any
real worth) or alternatively 3.5" MOD or DVD-RAM for smaller backups.
The problem with tape drives is that they have not kept up with the
capacity increases of HDDs. They are still cost-effective in
tape-libraries with hundresd of tapes but not for smaller set-ups.

Arno


I did a little checking using google and dogpile.com search engines.
Onstream, Inc. filed Ch 7 bankruptcy a few years back. I'll make one
more check, to see if the drive is properly seated on it's IDE cable.
That's the one thing I didn't check. Nevertheless, with no additional
ADR cartages available at affordable prices I guess I better start
looking at other backup options.

I really liked the tape drive: because I didn't need to feed additional
media to backup my entire system, and when it finished the job it would
shut my computer off.

I have an old P III 450 100 FSB system. Firewire and hotswapable drives
are not an option. I know, I should get a new computer. I am an
artist. At this point a new computer is not in my budget. :-(

Hmmm, that is a problem. It speaks volumes of the state of
personal computing that there are no reliable and affordable backup
solutions out there at the moment.

Still, you should ask yourself what happens if you losse some/all of
your work due to missing backups.

Arno
--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus