Many thanks for the suggestions to,
(Harry (no last name)) inghh_at_vrinet.com
(Alan Rollow) alan_at_nabeth.cxo.dec.com
George Guethlein <GGuethlein_at_GiantOfMaryland.com>
Whitney Latta <latta_at_decatl.alf.dec.com>
Dr. Tom Blinn, <tpb_at_zk3.dec.com>
Tom Webster <webster_at_ssdpdc.lgb.cal.boeing.com>
--------------------------
Dr. Tom Blinn provided the most succinct answer:
" Known bug in V4.0C, fixed in V4.0D. Update to V4.0D and it will work."
--------------------------
Tom Webster said the following which pretty well summs up why
disklabel fails to do anything to the JAZ disk:
I'm going to keep this short because it has been answered several times,
and should be in the archives for this list.
1. Starting with DU4.0, the disk tools (like disklabel) make a 'sanity
check' of the disk geometry before doing anything. This is to prevent
newbie SysAdmins from writing bad disklabels to disks (i.e. writing
an rz29 label to rz28). In the past disk geometry was only read in if
an unknown label was specified -- which caused disklabel to generate
a new label from scratch using the disk geometry.
2. Iomega's drives return garbage when they are queried for drive
geometry. This is an Iomega proble with their firmware -- not that
it can really be helped with removable drives that support multiple
media sizes (512MB, 1GB, and 2GB on the newer models).
3. Since disklabel and the other tools can't read the disk geometry they
refuse to work with the drives. DEC doesn't see this as a problem as
the Iomega drives are not considered supported deviced under DU.
What can you do to make it work:
1. Use the disklabel from a 3.2 system. Works fine as long as you have
a disktab entry for the drive.
2. If you have a DEC 1GB drive (rz26f?) you can copy the first couple of
blocks off of the drive onto the jaz drive using dd. This will transfer
the disklabel to the Jaz drive. After that you should be able to edit
the disklable to change the partition sizes.
---------------------------
Harry (singhh_at_vrinet.com) warned about trying to use ADVFS on Jaz disks
along with other sage remarks:
In V4.0 through V4.0C, there is a bug in disklabel that makes it hard
to put a new label on a Zip or Jaz cartridge, but it will be fixed in
V4.0D. I have not heard of any problems with V3.2G, so you should be
able to just use disklabel to label the disk. There is nothing in the
SCSI device subsystem that treats a Jaz or Zip drive differently from
any other SCSI disk. So there is no interlock to keep you from just
ejecting the cartridge while the drive is mounted. As a result, you
have to be careful. Also, I've had mixed results using AdvFS on Jaz
media; I suspect the drives return occasional soft errors that aren't
troubling to UFS but AdvFS seems to get upset and puts the drive off-
line (or panics the system, depending on the version). So I wouldn't
recommend using a Jaz (or Zip) drive for AdvFS, but I've had pretty
good results using UFS. In fact, I'm even running one of my systems
with T4.0D (internal field test) software installed using the Jaz as
the system disk. I haven't tried setting up a Zip drive to hold the
root partition; it would be big enough, but just barely, for a stand-
alone kind of system environment.
---------------------------
Whitney Latta covered some important details. Using the file command to
check the integrity of the device files was a new technique to me.
Unfortunately, disklabel on 4.0c seems to be the root of my problem
Some things to try:
since SCU recognises the drive ok, you're halfway home.
1) Do the device files in /dev exist?
If not make them using the commands:
#cd /dev
#MAKEDEV rz21
(this should make the rz and rrz device files, iff they are not already
present!)
2) Execute the "file" command on one of the raw devices:
#file /dev/rrz21c
(If the device file points to a "real" device, you will see information
describing the drive, AFTER the major/minor number combo)
3) If the devices look good, try running disklabel WITHOUT specifying a
"device type" from the /etc/disktab file:
#disklabel -rw rz21 rzxx
(the above command will WRITE a new default label on the drive, using
the drive information contained in the scsi device driver which was
obtained when the system sized the device at boot-time! Also assumes a
DISK CARTRIDGE is inserted first! NOTE: I have used the device name
"rz21" instead of the "DEVICE SPECIAL-FILE NAME", ie: /dev/rz* or
/dev/rrz*. I also used a non-existant device type "rzxx")
The continued use of /etc/disktab is only for special setups, and can
generally be avoided.
--------------------
CONCLUSION: Update to 4.0d. After that all the information above should
work. Many thanks to all.
rich frank
rnfrank_at_llnl.gov
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original question:
I am having trouble getting a JAZ drive to work on a DEC 433au running
DUNIX 4.0c. The device is installed internally and is recognized by the
system:
---------------
rootrnf_» scu -f /dev/rrz21c
scu> show device
Inquiry Information:
SCSI Bus ID: 2
SCSI Target ID: 5
SCSI Target LUN: 0
Peripheral Device Type: 0 (Direct Access)
Peripheral Qualifier: 0 (Peripheral Device Connected)
Device Type Modifier: 0
Removable Media: Yes
ANSI Version: 2 (Complies to ANSI X3.131-1994, SCSI-2)
ECMA Version: 0
ISO Version: 0
Response Data Format: 2 (SCSI-2)
Terminate I/O Process: 0
Asynchronous Notification: 0
Additional Length: 131
Soft Reset Support: No
Command Queuing Support: No
Target Transfer Disable: No
Linked Command Support: Yes
Synchronous Data Transfers: Yes
Support for 16 Bit Transfers: No
Support for 32 Bit Transfers: No
Relative Addressing Support: No
Vendor Identification: iomega
Product Identification: jaz 1GB
Firmware Revision Level: J.86
scu>
-----------------
I have vi'ed /etc/disktab to include the following lines:
-----------------
# jaz drive info from osf-managers list 18.jun.1998 rnf
#
jaz|IOMEGA Jaz 1GB drive:\
:ty=winchester:dt=SCSI:ns#3217:nt#1:nc#650:\
:oa#0:pa#2091050:ba#8192:fa#1024: \
:oc#0:pc#2091050:bc#8192:fc#1024:
#
-----------------
Attempts to use disklabel all have a result as below:
-----------------
rootrnf_» disklabel -r -w /dev/rrz21c jaz
jaz: unknown disk type
rootrnf_» disklabel -r -w /dev/rrz21c rz55
rz55: unknown disk type
rootrnf_» disklabel -r -w /dev/rrz21c rwz21
rwz21: unknown disk type
------------------
rz55 is a normal disk type from /etc/disktab and rwz21 is a removable
drive from /etc/disktab.
My first attempt to configure the disk was to use the disk configuration
GUI. I have used this for all previous disk installations (normal hard
disks) and it has worked well. The GUI responds with a message like:
------------------
This device has been physically removed, is experiencing a hardware
problem, or is not a random access read/write device. No information
available.
-------------------
I have also tried to use DEC's default mtools to read the 'tools disk'
that comes with the JAZ drive without success, but that's another story.
All comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
rich frank
rnfrank_at_llnl.gov
with the JAZ drive
Received on Fri Jun 19 1998 - 22:43:14 NZST