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LinearTapeFileSystem / ltfs

Reference implementation of the LTFS format Spec for stand alone tape drive
BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
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[Question] Supported drives question - IBM/Quantum #481

Closed concrete11 closed 2 months ago

concrete11 commented 2 months ago

Hi all,

apologies for raising an issue, but I'd appreciate if someone can help me with the following questions:

  1. Are Quantum and IBM drives (with matching look) the same ? According to some research, some Quantum drives are made by IBM and others by HPE. The ones made by IBM have the exact same look as IBMs (the plastic door design, arrangement of buttons and LEDs). But according to the src/tape_drivers the Quantum drives are marked as different category and the source code indicates its quite incomplete, compared to IBM drives.

  2. Is the ltfs_ordered_copy the same as IBM's ltfsc ? IBM's ltfscp has more detailed documentation and implies it is a better tool to copy files from/to LTFS formatted tape. I cannot understand if ltfs_ordered_copy is doing the same as ltfscp and should ltfs_ordered_copy be generally used to copy any kind of content to/from LTFS tapes. It seems IBM's ltfscp has more functions than ltfs_ordered_copy

I am already using HPE drive and their implementation of LTFS, but planning to switch to IBM drive and software and it is generally easier to find Quantum drive in my part of the world, rather than IBM or HPE. According to a research, IBM's and HPE's implementations of LTFS are sadly not compatible and wondering if my flow will drastically change if I switch to IBM, mostly due to ltfscopy

Thanks in advance.

piste-jp commented 2 months ago

A1. I think this is not a good idea to ask OEM things to this project. Please contact to Quantum, HP or IBM directly. For the source code, I don't know what is 'incomplete' but someone confirmed it works on the linux/sg backend. As you know, this project is completely open source and we don't have enough money to confirm the LTFS works on 'every' LTO drives. Please use the code one your risk.

A2. I believe IBM suspended the support of LTFS Tools utility in 2017. And ltfs_orderd_copy has same functionality as IBM's ltfscp, checking start block of each file and reorder reading order. It is written by python, so you can check what happens on your eyes.

It seems IBM's ltfscp has more functions than ltfs_ordered_copy

Please be more specific what feature on IBM's ltfscp do you want to have.

I am already using HPE drive and their implementation of LTFS, but planning to switch to IBM drive and software and it is generally easier to find Quantum drive in my part of the world, rather than IBM or HPE. According to a research, IBM's and HPE's implementations of LTFS are sadly not compatible and wondering if my flow will drastically change if I switch to IBM, mostly due to ltfscopy

I believe current code on this repository (@main) can handle many drives provided from HP, Quantum and IBM. It means this code unified support of drives as much as possible.

concrete11 commented 2 months ago

Thanks @piste-jp for the reply.

My intention was not to sound like an OEM request or a question. Apologies for sounding like that.

I will give it a try with the HPE drive and LTFS implementation.