> The QIC-36 behind an Emulex MT02 used to work.  I just tried and
> the tape driver persistently complains:

> [...]

Same thing that happened to me. Also could not do simple operations such as
fsf 1.

> it is not generally necessary to low-level format.

Generally, when one gets a new drive, it pays to low-level format before
putting it on a Sun-like machine. The convention on Suns is to use sector
sparing to hide all errors; on DOS and other OSes, this isn't always done.

--Brett