Hi all, Sorry for the long email. I don't understand how xfsrestore is supposed to work when restoring a dump spanning multiple tapes, maybe someone can explain things to me. I did an xfsdump: xfsdump -p 30 -f /dev/nst0 -l 0 -L "..." -M tape_0 -J /fs I don't have the output from it anymore, but it run out of tape, prompted me to insert a new media (which I named tape_02), I did, and then it finished successfully. I went then to do the restore after recreating the filesystem (so I don't have the original FS to do comparisons), and per the xfsrestore man page ("If a dump spans multiple media objects, the restore must begin with the media object containing the first media file dumped. The operator is prompted when the next media object is needed.") I inserted the first tape, and run the restore (note same tape ID as in the dump): xfsrestore -p 300 -T -J -f /dev/nst0 /fs xfsrestore: using scsi tape (drive_scsitape) strategy xfsrestore: version 3.1.4 (dump format 3.0) - type ^C for status and control xfsrestore: searching media for dump xfsrestore: preparing drive xfsrestore: examining media file 0 =========================== dump selection dialog ============================ the following dump has been found on drive 0 … media label: "tape_0" … restore this dump? 1: skip 2: restore (default) -> 2 this dump selected for restoral --------------------------------- end dialog --------------------------------- xfsrestore: searching media for directory dump xfsrestore: reading directories xfsrestore: 17241 directories and 875931 entries processed … xfsrestore: status at 01:04:03: 785594/858613 files restored, 89.2% complete, 18300 seconds elapsed xfsrestore: attempt to read 3719168 bytes failed: end of media file xfsrestore: restore complete: 18449 seconds elapsed xfsrestore: Restore Summary: xfsrestore: stream 0 /dev/nst0 OK (success) xfsrestore: Restore Status: SUCCESS And back to the shell, without asking me to insert a new media. I though maybe I need to manually do the second tape, so I did insert tape_02 and run: xfsrestore -p 300 -T -J -f /dev/nst0 /swamp xfsrestore: using scsi tape (drive_scsitape) strategy xfsrestore: version 3.1.4 (dump format 3.0) - type ^C for status and control xfsrestore: searching media for dump xfsrestore: preparing drive xfsrestore: examining media file 0 =========================== dump selection dialog ============================ the following dump has been found on drive 0 … media label: "tape_02" … restore this dump? 1: skip 2: restore (default) -> 2 this dump selected for restoral --------------------------------- end dialog --------------------------------- xfsrestore: searching media for directory dump xfsrestore: reading directories xfsrestore: 17241 directories and 875931 entries processed xfsrestore: directory post-processing xfsrestore: restoring non-directory files … xfsrestore: status at 01:43:32: 66021/858613 files restored, 9.7% complete, 2100 seconds elapsed xfsrestore: examining media file 1 ============================ change media dialog ============================= please change media in drive 1: media change declined 2: display media inventory status 3: list needed media objects 4: media changed (default) -> Here I was sure that it will know to prompt me for the first tape (maybe the restore needs to start from the last media object?), but: (selecting list needed media objects) -> 3 here may be unidentified media objects not yet fully restored --------------------------------- end dialog --------------------------------- ============================ change media dialog ============================= So it didn't know about any missing media. I reinserted the first tape, restored again it contents (long process, it did read the entire tape), at the end it prompted me *once more* for more media. Note that now it had a different error message than in the first restore (where it said "attempt to read NNNN bytes failed"): xfsrestore: status at 15:23:32: 849732/858613 files restored, 99.0% complete, 51300 seconds elapsed xfsrestore: attempt to read 3719168 bytes failed: end of media file xfsrestore: WARNING: hit EOD at stream 0 object 0, yet inventory indicates last object index is 1 ============================ change media dialog ============================= It still didn't know about any "missing" media, and the media inventory status at this time was: -> 2 session inventory display media stream 0: media object 0: label: "tape_0" id: 9f0405b8-d4bc-4f13-aa80-32a587decfd3 index within object of first media file: 0 media file 0 (0): first extent contained: ino 515 off 0 next extent to restore: ino 7522410547 off 134217728 non-directories done may be additional unidentified media files media object 1: label: "tape_02" id: 232ed239-9020-4da6-8ea5-abe6f22c9f0a index within object of first media file: 0 media file 0 (0): used for directory restoral first extent contained: ino 7522410547 off 134217728 next extent to restore: ino 8283659327 off 0 non-directories done media file 1 (1): is stream terminator --------------------------------- end dialog --------------------------------- I don't know how to parse this output. tape_02 seems consistent, tape_0 seems to not have all the information needed maybe? I inserted the 2nd tape again: 4: media changed (default) -> 4 examining new media --------------------------------- end dialog --------------------------------- xfsrestore: status at 15:28:32: 858069/858613 files restored, 100.0% complete, 51600 seconds elapsed xfsrestore: preparing drive xfsrestore: examining media file 0 xfsrestore: restore complete: 51946 seconds elapsed xfsrestore: Restore Summary: xfsrestore: stream 0 /dev/nst0 OK (success) xfsrestore: Restore Status: SUCCESS This time it didn't actually read anything from tape beyond the index (mt tell said block 1 afterwards, and there was no "tape reading" noise). It looks like it finished correctly, but also the first incomplete restore also said "SUCCESS". So at this point: I don't know what I did wrong, or if there was an issue with my tape unit where it didn't write things correctly to the end of the first tape. Or is the man page out of date? I also don't know for sure if everything was restored (858069/858613 files restored means I lost at most 544 files lost, but I presume that was just because the progress report interval was high). I didn't do a "find" before the dump to compare file lists. Hope someone can enlighten me :) thanks in advance, iustin _______________________________________________ xfs mailing list xfs@xxxxxxxxxxx http://oss.sgi.com/mailman/listinfo/xfs