PC Hardware

Alan · Guest

I have a PC running WinXP Pro with SCSI RAID, separate SCSI boot disk and
third SCSI card (Adaptec 29160) for an Exabyte Mammoth M2 LVD external tape
drive. I have Retrospect to operate the tape. I bought all this stuff a few
years ago. I try to make it work and can't, then forget about it in the
pressure of other work. Then try again months later. Most recently a tech
came and took the computer away because the computer couldn't see the tape
drive. He said it was a bad cable. He brought the computer back with a new
cable and I saw it recognize the tape. Then I had some problems with the
software and quit dealing with it. Months passed. I finally got around to
upgrading to the latest version of Retrospect. Armed with the upgrade,
Retrospect didn't see the tape drive, then it did, but it wouldn't backup
because of a tape drive error. Exabyte said the error could be corrected
with a firmware update. But now the computer doesn't see the tape drive
again. I did all the usual stuff: wiggled the cables, took them off and put
them back, changed to a different SCSI ID number. I tried the old cable that
supposedly didn't work. I have the latest 29160 driver. And, yes, I have a
terminator. Although the computer doesn't recognize the drive, it will
sometime pause at the tape's ID number as if it is going to recognize it,
then it moves on. It doesn't pause at any other numbers. Then sometimes it
will scan without pauing but skip the tape's ID number. Which one it does
depend on whether I have rebooted the computer or done a cold start -- I
think. In any case it doesn't recognize the tape.

So is it the SCSI card? Probably not, right?
Is it the cable? Probably not, because it pauses so it sees "something."
Could the drive be defective? According to Exabyte, from what they can tell
over the phone, it appears to be working normally.

I'm out of ideas.

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