How does one copy a SCSI tape ?

[Ed Arnold]

In article <1423 at brazos.Rice.edu> neil at stl.stc.co.uk (Neil Todd) writes:
|X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 119, message 3 of 15
|
|In article <1080 at brazos.Rice.edu> harvard!cloud9.Stratus.COM!fmbutt at ursa-major.spdcc.com (Farooq Butt) writes:
|| X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 106, message 2 of 15
|| 
|| You have an OS tape. You wish to copy it for safekeeping. You use "dd" but
|| it doesn't seem to work.  What is a good way to duplicate OS release
|| tapes.  Again, I reiterate, this copying is merely for safekeeping as
|| tapes tend to get chewed up at our site ....
|
|Don't forget that there are multiple files on the distribution tape, the
|Sun documentation gives your the layout - to use non rewinding tapes for
|input and output. Then do a "mt -f /dev/devicename rew" when done.
|
|You should try using the high density tape (/dev/nrst8 if cart, /dev/nrmt8
|if tape), and a sensible (small) blocking factor. Continue to use "dd".

Problem is, I never want to use dd when it comes to the unpleasant task of
typing all those commands in to duplicate multiple files.  That's why I
never made copies, until a few weeks ago, when the drive chewed a hole in
an important one.

Fortunately, somebody wrote a utility that's been floating around in our
area, which does the copying automatically.  It analyzes the tape and
reads the files into the current directory, then when invoked again with
an output option, writes a copy of the tape.  Email me if you'd like a
copy.

Ed Arnold * era at ncar.ucar.edu [internet] * era at ncario [bitnet]