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Forcing an Archive To a Single Tape
 
 
 

In some cases, an archive on a single tape may be accidentally tagged as a multi-tape archive. This results in the application prompt to insert a second tape when there is no need for it.

To fix this problem, use the following environment variables to identify archives that are not tagged correctly, and then to force the archive to register as a single tape:

DL_DUMP_ARCHIVE_TOC

DL_ARCH_FORCED_NB_VOLUMES

WarningAutodesk recommends the following procedures only if you are a specialist. Otherwise, please contact Autodesk Media and Entertainment Customer Support for help at http://www.autodesk.com/support.

To identify archives mistakenly tagged as multi-tape:

  1. In a command shell, type setenv DL_DUMP_ARCHIVE_TOC.
  2. Launch Smoke from the shell.
  3. Open an archive from the Archive menu.
  4. Examine the feedback in the shell: scroll down past the list of segments and look for “volume=<# of volumes for archive>”.

    The number of volumes indicates how many tapes the application registers as being used for the archive. If the number of volumes is more than one and the archive is on a single tape (the line would read “volume=2”) proceed with the following steps.

To force an archive to a specific number of tapes:

  1. If necessary, quit Smoke.
  2. In command shell, type the following to force the archive to a single tape:

    setenv DL_ARCH_FORCED_NB_VOLUMES 1

  3. Relaunch Smoke from the same shell and proceed to restore the archive from tape.

    Mistakenly changing the number of tapes for an archive results in corrupted clips. It can happen, for example, if the archive is spread over two tapes and you force it to one tape. However, the source material on the tape is not corrupted. If you have corrupted clips, try starting another session of Smoke without using the DL_ARCH_FORCED_NB_VOLUMES environment variable.