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Article Number: 000139042

How to Use the xTalk Tape Drive Diagnostic Tool

Summary: Learn about xTalk Tape Drive Diagnostic Tool

This article may have been automatically translated. If you have any feedback regarding its quality, please let us know using the form at the bottom of this page.

Article Content

Resolution

Table of Contents:

  1. What is xTalk?
  2. Device Health Check
  3. Short Read Write Test
 

What is xTalk?

xTalk is a diagnostic software used for testing and gathering logs from the following Dell PowerVault Tape Drives, Autoloaders, and Libraries:

  • 100T DAT72
  • 100T DDS4
  • 110T VS80
  • 110T VS160
  • 110T SDLT220
  • 110T SDLT320
  • 110T LTO1 (Certance®)
  • 110T LTO2-L (Certance®)
  • 110T LTO3 Half Height (HH) (Certance®)
  • 110T LTO4-120 Half Height (HH) (Quantum®)
  • 114T (When it contains one of the above stand-alone Quantum drives)
  • 124T VS160 (Quantum®)
  • 124T LTO2 Half Height (Quantum®)
  • 124T LTO3-60 Half Height (Quantum®)
  • 124T LTO3 Half Height (Quantum®)
  • 124T LTO4 Full Height (Quantum®)
  • 124T LTO4 Half Height (Quantum®)
  • 124T LTO5 Half Height (Quantum®)
  • ML6xxx (When it contains LTO3 Quantum Drives)

Note: The tape drives mentioned above could be in an autoloader or a tape library.

For example, PowerVault 124T with a LTO2-LC tape drive. Typically, these tape drives will have one of the following name brands:

  1. Seagate®
  2. Certance®
  3. Quantum®
 

Caution: The xTalk diagnostic test tool will essentially format / destroy data on a tape that has data on it. As a result, it is recommended that a new or over-writable tape be used with xTalk.

To use xTalk, it is recommended that the following be done prior to it's use:

  1. Download the Dell PowerVault Tape Drive Diagnostics, and extract files.

  2. Stop the backup software services.

  3. If necessary, stop and disable the backup software services, and reboot the server.

  4. Run (or double-click) the SetupTapeDiags.exe, or run the xTalk.exe from the diags folder from the extracted files of the recent download.
    This will install the xTalk diagnostic tool.

  5. Start xTalk, and choose the appropriate diagnostic test, or log gathering option.

  6. The options can differ with xTalk and the type of tape drive being tested.

  7. The following is an example of what xTalk can look like with it's different diagnostics and log gathering options:

    SLN163638_en_US__11372264576004.Figure-1_xTalk_LTO2 
    Figure 1: Example of xTalk with a LTO2 Tape Drive

    SLN163638_en_US__21372264647365.Figure-2_xTalk_SDLT320
    Figure 2: Example of xTalk with a SDLT320 Tape Drive

Device Health Check

Device Health Check is a method to test a tape drive, in particular, one of the tape drives mentioned above.  It can be used to determine if there is an issue with the tape drive and/or LTO media.

Overall, this Device Health Check, is a series of diagnostic tests that will help to determine the health of the tape drive in question.

Note: xTalk cannot be with IBM® or Tandberg® tape drives.
Only the tape drives and brands mentioned above can be used with xTalk.
 

Caution: The xTalk diagnostic test too  will essentially format / destroy data on a tape that has data on it. As a result, it is recommended that a new or over-writable tape be used with xTalk.

Use the following link to see how Device Health Check is used: Tutorial How-to: Perform a Device Health Check with xTalk


Short Write Read Test

The Short Write Read Test will perform a 500 MB write and a 500 MB read to the tape drive by using random data.

This can be helpful to determine the cause of a backup or restore failure.

Use the following link to see how to initiate a Short Write Read Test: xTalk Diagnostic Short Read Write

Note: xTalk cannot be with IBM® or Tandberg® tape drives.
Only the tape drives and brands mentioned above can be used with xTalk.
 

Caution: The xTalk diagnostic test too  will essentially format / destroy data on a tape that has data on it. As a result, it is recommended that a new or over-writable tape be used with xTalk.

Use the following link to see how Device Health Check is used: Tutorial How-to: Perform a Device Health Check with xTalk

Article Properties

Affected Product
Servers, PowerVault 100T DAT72, PowerVault 110T LTO2-L, PowerVault 110T LTO3, PowerVault 110T VS160, PowerVault 110T DLT VS80 (Tape Drive), PowerVault 112T 1U (Tape Enclosure), PowerVault 122T DLT VS80 (Autoloader), PowerVault 124T , PowerVault 130T DLT (Tape Library), POWER VAULT 114X LTO5 140, PowerVault 128T LTO/SDLT (Tape Library), PowerVault 132T LTO/SDLT (Tape Library), PowerVault 136T LTO/SDLT (Tape Library), PowerVault 110T LTO2 (Tape Drive), PowerVault LTO4-120HH, PowerVault 110T SDLT220 (Tape Drive), PowerVault 110T SDLT320 (Tape Drive), PowerVault 122T SDLT 320 (Autoloader) ...
Last Published Date

10 Apr 2021

Version

3

Article Type

Solution

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