| When
I issue a command to run the tape drive via OutRight,
the timer counts but the tape drive does not move. Why
does this occur? |
| The cause of this is an interrupt,
or IRQ, conflict. When configuring your tape drive, be
sure to use an interrupt channel that is not actively
being used by another device in your computer |
| When
reading from a tape, a message saying "Oversized
block on tape" is displayed. What is this telling
me? |
| Your maximum specified block
size is too small. Increase it or use ‘scan tape’
to find the exact size. |
| When
writing to a tape, a warning message saying "Records
truncated -- Possible cause: Exporting binary data as
text" is displayed. What does this mean? |
| The specified record length
is either too small, or you are trying to write a binary
file as text. Either increase the record size, or choose
to export the data as a binary file. |
| When
I test the Pertec controller card, the message "On-Board
Memory Failure - Check I/O Address" is displayed.
What is causing this? |
| Make sure that the card is
fully seated in the mother board, and that the DIP switch
settings are correctly set according to the port address
selected in the OutRight configuration menu. Also be sure
to select the appropriate adapter type in the hardware
section of the OutRight configuration menu. It is also
possible that the port address chosen is in conflict with
another board in the PC. |
| When
I try to read from the tape labels in ReelView II, the
message "Tdriver not loaded" is displayed. What
does this mean? |
| In order for ReelView II to
function, it needs 3 files from the OutRight software:
‘API.EXE’, ‘API.H’, and ‘OUTRIGHT.CFG’.
Now, if OutRight’s configuration file is correct,
the only thing left to do is to execute the program by
typing ‘rvii’. |
| Why
can't I read from a tape using Reelview II in Windows
95? |
| Reelview II was designed to
work in a DOS environment. The only way it would to read
the tape in to boot to a dos prompt upon bootup. You can
however to a disk to disk transfer in a Windows 95 DOS
prompt. |
| When
I try to issue a command to my SCSI tape drive, OutRight
says "ASPI manager not found" or "Configured
device not found". What is causing this? |
| Check to ensure that the appropriate
ASPI drivers are being loaded in the ‘CONFIG.SYS’
file. For example, an Adaptec AHA1542 SCSI card requires
the following line in the ‘CONFIG.SYS’ file:
DEVICE=C:\SCSI\ASPI4DOS.SYS /D {Must be the FIRST line
of the file.} ALSO: Check
Windows ASPI Package Support |
| What
is an Erased Gap? |
| An Erased Gap is a patch of
tape with no written data among blocks of actual written
data. Because tape drives and tape drive software adhere
to ANSI and IBM standard tape formats, any Inter-Block-Gap
greater than 0.6 inches can be recognized as an Erased
Gap. |
| Sometimes
when I am reading from or writing to a tape, I encounter
Block Errors. What causes these to occur? |
| Block Errors occur when the
tape drive can neither read from nor write to a specific
portion of the tape. Dirty tape drive heads or bad media
can lead to Block Errors. The chances of a Block Error
increase as the size of the block gets larger. If an error
should occur and cleaning the head does not help, that
block must be rewritten. |
| How
do I find out the maximum block on a tape? |
| The maximum block size can
be found by issuing a ‘Scan Tape’ command.
In the case of a labeled tape, the block size can be found
in the HDR2 label. For example, HDR2F0819200132... shows
a file of fixed length records with a maximum block size
of 8192. |
| How
do I find out the record size of a given tape? |
| If the tape is labeled, again
the information can be found in the HDR2 label. For example,
HDR2F0819200132... shows a file of fixed length records
with a record length of 132. Now, if the tape is unlabeled,
and without knowledge of how the tape was written, the
only way to find out the size of the records is by inspecting
the tape and counting the bytes. Otherwise, contact the
tape’s origin. |
| The
message "Tape Drive is Off-line" appears on
the screen. What should I check for? |
| Check and make sure that the
cable is fully seated in both the tape drive and the controller
card and be sure that the drive itself is loaded and sitting
at ‘LP’, or load point. |
| When
reading from a tape, I receive a "Data Mismatch"
error. What does this message mean? |
| Data mismatch errors occur
when the tape drive cannot successfully verify that the
data it has read is the same as the data that was written.
Possible causes could be DMA channel conflicts, dirty
heads on the tape drive, or improper cable connections. |
| I
would like to automate my tape operations. Is there a
way to issue commands to the tape drive via a batch file? |
| When using OutRight, one must
first enter the program, set the proper parameters for
the tape operation, and save that information in a setup
file. Then, one can issue the following command in a batch
file: OR <filename>.SET /<command line option>.
ReelView II works in much the same way. One needs to save
the operation parameters in a .PR2 file, then via a batch
file issue the following: RVXFER <filename>.PR2. |
| When
running ReelView II, sometimes my computer locks up and
I have to reboot. What is causing this? |
| ReelView II requires at least
540K in conventional memory available to run properly.
The machine locking up at times is an indication that
there is not enough memory present. |
| It
appears that I am losing data when I try to read in data
from my tape. What can I do to try and minimize this loss
of data? |
| This error tends to occur when
the user has a PCTD-3 card in a 486+ machine. The PCTD-3
is only recommended to be used in PC’s with processors
no faster than a 486 50Mhz. A solution would be to use
the ‘PCTD-3 single mode DMA’ option when configuring
OutRight. If data loss continues, contact your supplier
about getting an upgrade to the PCTD-16 card. |
| How
do I retrieve a specific file from the tape? |
| To retrieve a specific file
from a tape, one can either position the tape at the start
of the file using the ‘Tape Browser’ option
and choose to import, setting the import pre-position
to current. Or, one can specify the file position number
in the ‘Source File Limits’ menu. For example,
if one wants to import file 7, both the lower and upper
limits fields should contain a 7. |
| When
I try to restore files from a backup set, some files get
omitted. Why? |
| Normally when files are being
omitted when trying to restore from a backup set, the
proper switches are not being selected in the ‘Special
Includes’ section of the Options menu under Restore.
The default value is to restore those files without attributes
and read-only files. |
| Is
it possible to write my own program which interfaces the
tape drive and the OutRight software? |
| OutRight comes equipped with
an API, or Application Program Interface. The ‘API.EXE’
program executes as a DOS Terminate and Stay Resident
program. The API is a register-oriented interface, meaning
that all of the parameters and command values are passed
across the API in CPU registers. An application will invoke
an API function by setting register values particular
to a desired function, then invoking the API provider
via a PC software interrupt. Any language that can handle
and generate software interrupts can be used to access
the tape drive via the API. |
| While
reading from a tape, the tape spools off the end of the
reel. Why does this occur? |
| This can occur if the tape
does not contain two consecutive tape marks at the end
of written data, and the data ends either close to or
past the physical EOT marker on the tape. |
| When
should I be using OutRight, and when should I be using
ReelView II? |
When the data must adhere to
a specific record layout, where fields within records
are defined and may be comprised of ‘packed’
data, one would want to use ReelView II. ReelView II also
has the ability to convert sets of data directly into
either CSV, dBase, FoxPro, or Paradox format. Any other
situation, one would want to use OutRight.
|
