While working with tape drives you get sometimes a bit cryptic messages from the drive. With this page I would like to create a list of messages and what they mean. Just to make life more easy.
If you have more... please let me know at dleeuw at made-it dot com.
| Additional Sense Code | Additional Sense Qualifier | Description |
| 00 | 01 | Filemark detected |
| 00 | 02 | End-of-partition/medium detected |
| 00 | 03 | Setmark detected |
| 00 | 04 | Beginning-of-partition/medium detected |
| 00 | 05 | End-of-data detected |
| 00 | 06 | I/O process terminated |
| 00 | 11 | Audio play operation in progress |
| 00 | 12 | Audio play operation paused |
| 00 | 13 | Audio play operation successfully completed |
| 00 | 14 | Audio play operation stopped due to error |
| 00 | 15 | No current audio status to return |
| 01 | 00 | No index/sector signal |
| 02 | 00 | No seek complete |
| 03 | 00 | Peripheral device write fault |
| 03 | 01 | No write current |
| 03 | 02 | Excessive write errors |
| 04 | 00 | Logical unit not ready |
| 04 | 01 | Logical unit is in process of becoming ready |
| 04 | 02 | Logical unit not ready |
| 04 | 03 | Logical unit not ready |
| 04 | 04 | Logical unit not ready |
| 05 | 00 | Logical unit does not respond to selection |
| 06 | 00 | No reference position found |
| 07 | 00 | Multiple peripheral devices selected |
| 08 | 00 | Logical unit communication failure |
| 08 | 01 | Logical unit communication time-out |
| 08 | 02 | Logical unit communication parity error |
| 09 | 00 | Track following error |
| 09 | 01 | Tracking servo failure |
| 09 | 02 | Focus servo failure |
| 09 | 03 | Spindle servo failure |
| 0A | 00 | Error log overflow |
| 0C | 00 | Write error |
| 0C | 01 | Write error recovered with auto reallocation |
| 0C | 02 | Write error - auto reallocation failed |
| 10 | 00 | Id crc or ecc error |
| 11 | 00 | Unrecovered read error |
| 11 | 01 | Read retries exhausted |
| 11 | 02 | Error too long to correct |
| 11 | 03 | Multiple read errors |
| 11 | 04 | Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed |
| 11 | 05 | L-ec uncorrectable error |
| 11 | 06 | Circ unrecovered error |
| 11 | 07 | Data resynchronization error |
| 11 | 08 | Incomplete block read |
| 11 | 09 | No gap found |
| 11 | 0A | Miscorrected error |
| 11 | 0B | Unrecovered read error - recommend reassignment |
| 11 | 0C | Unrecovered read error - recommend rewrite the data |
| 12 | 00 | Address mark not found for id field |
| 13 | 00 | Address mark not found for data field |
| 14 | 00 | Recorded entity not found |
| 14 | 01 | Record not found |
| 14 | 02 | Filemark or setmark not found |
| 14 | 03 | End-of-data not found |
| 14 | 04 | Block sequence error |
| 15 | 00 | Random positioning error |
| 15 | 01 | Mechanical positioning error |
| 15 | 02 | Positioning error detected by read of medium |
| 16 | 00 | Data synchronization mark error |
| 17 | 00 | Recovered data with no error correction applied |
| 17 | 01 | Recovered data with retries |
| 17 | 02 | Recovered data with positive head offset |
| 17 | 03 | Recovered data with negative head offset |
| 17 | 04 | Recovered data with retries and/or circ applied |
| 17 | 05 | Recovered data using previous sector id |
| 17 | 06 | Recovered data without ecc - data auto-reallocated |
| 17 | 07 | Recovered data without ecc - recommend reassignment |
| 18 | 00 | Recovered data with error correction applied |
| 18 | 01 | Recovered data with error correction and retries applied |
| 18 | 02 | Recovered data - data auto-reallocated |
| 18 | 03 | Recovered data with circ |
| 18 | 04 | Recovered data with lec |
| 18 | 05 | Recovered data - recommend reassignment |
| 19 | 00 | Defect list error |
| 19 | 01 | Defect list not available |
| 19 | 02 | Defect list error in primary list |
| 19 | 03 | Defect list error in grown list |
| 1A | 00 | Parameter list length error |
| 1B | 00 | Synchronous data transfer error |
| 1C | 00 | Defect list not found |
| 1C | 01 | Primary defect list not found |
| 1C | 02 | Grown defect list not found |
| 1D | 00 | Miscompare during verify operation |
| 1E | 00 | Recovered id with ecc correction |
| 20 | 00 | Invalid command operation code |
| 21 | 00 | Logical block address out of range |
| 21 | 01 | Invalid element address |
| 22 | 00 | Illegal function (should use 20 00 |
| 24 | 00 | Invalid field in cdb |
| 25 | 00 | Logical unit not supported |
| 26 | 00 | Invalid field in parameter list |
| 26 | 01 | Parameter not supported |
| 26 | 02 | Parameter value invalid |
| 26 | 03 | Threshold parameters not supported |
| 27 | 00 | Write protected |
| 28 | 00 | Not ready to ready transition (medium may have changed) |
| 28 | 01 | Import or export element accessed |
| 29 | 00 | Power on |
| 2A | 00 | Parameters changed |
| 2A | 01 | Mode parameters changed |
| 2A | 02 | Log parameters changed |
| 2B | 00 | Copy cannot execute since host cannot disconnect |
| 2C | 00 | Command sequence error |
| 2C | 01 | Too many windows specified |
| 2C | 02 | Invalid combination of windows specified |
| 2D | 00 | Overwrite error on update in place |
| 2F | 00 | Commands cleared by another initiator |
| 30 | 00 | Incompatible medium installed |
| 30 | 01 | Cannot read medium - unknown format |
| 30 | 02 | Cannot read medium - incompatible format |
| 30 | 03 | Cleaning cartridge installed |
| 31 | 00 | Medium format corrupted |
| 31 | 01 | Format command failed |
| 32 | 00 | No defect spare location available |
| 32 | 01 | Defect list update failure |
| 33 | 00 | Tape length error |
| 36 | 00 | Ribbon |
| 37 | 00 | Rounded parameter |
| 39 | 00 | Saving parameters not supported |
| 3A | 00 | Medium not present |
| 3B | 00 | Sequential positioning error |
| 3B | 01 | Tape position error at beginning-of-medium |
| 3B | 02 | Tape position error at end-of-medium |
| 3B | 03 | Tape or electronic vertical forms unit not ready |
| 3B | 04 | Slew failure |
| 3B | 05 | Paper jam |
| 3B | 06 | Failed to sense top-of-form |
| 3B | 07 | Failed to sense bottom-of-form |
| 3B | 08 | Reposition error |
| 3B | 09 | Read past end of medium |
| 3B | 0A | Read past beginning of medium |
| 3B | 0B | Position past end of medium |
| 3B | 0C | Position past beginning of medium |
| 3B | 0D | Medium destination element full |
| 3B | 0E | Medium source element empty |
| 3D | 00 | Invalid bits in identify message |
| 3E | 00 | Logical unit has not self-configured yet |
| 3F | 00 | Target operating conditions have changed |
| 3F | 01 | Microcode has been changed |
| 3F | 02 | Changed operating definition |
| 3F | 03 | Inquiry data has changed |
| 43 | 00 | Message error |
| 44 | 00 | Internal target failure |
| 45 | 00 | Select or reselect failure |
| 46 | 00 | Unsuccessful soft reset |
| 47 | 00 | Scsi parity error |
| 48 | 00 | Initiator detected error message received |
| 49 | 00 | Invalid message error |
| 4A | 00 | Command phase error |
| 4B | 00 | Data phase error |
| 4C | 00 | Logical unit failed self-configuration |
| 4E | 00 | Overlapped commands attempted |
| 50 | 00 | Write append error |
| 50 | 01 | Write append position error |
| 50 | 02 | Position error related to timing |
| 51 | 00 | Erase failure |
| 52 | 00 | Cartridge fault |
| 53 | 00 | Media load or eject failed |
| 53 | 01 | Unload tape failure |
| 53 | 02 | Medium removal prevented |
| 54 | 00 | Scsi to host system interface failure |
| 55 | 00 | System resource failure |
| 57 | 00 | Unable to recover table-of-contents |
| 58 | 00 | Generation does not exist |
| 59 | 00 | Updated block read |
| 5A | 00 | Operator request or state change input (unspecified) |
| 5A | 01 | Operator medium removal request |
| 5A | 02 | Operator selected write protect |
| 5A | 03 | Operator selected write permit |
| 5B | 00 | Log exception |
| 5B | 01 | Threshold condition met |
| 5B | 02 | Log counter at maximum |
| 5B | 03 | Log list codes exhausted |
| 5C | 00 | Rpl status change |
| 5C | 01 | Spindles synchronized |
| 5C | 02 | Spindles not synchronized |
| 60 | 00 | Lamp failure |
| 61 | 00 | Video acquisition error |
| 61 | 01 | Unable to acquire video |
| 61 | 02 | Out of focus |
| 62 | 00 | Scan head positioning error |
| 63 | 00 | End of user area encountered on this track |
| 64 | 00 | Illegal mode for this track |