From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Feb 17 21:02:49 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id VAA17136 for questions-outgoing; Mon, 17 Feb 1997 21:02:49 -0800 (PST) Received: from obie.softweyr.ml.org ([199.104.124.49]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id VAA17120 for ; Mon, 17 Feb 1997 21:02:43 -0800 (PST) Received: (from wes@localhost) by obie.softweyr.ml.org (8.7.5/8.6.12) id WAA16991; Mon, 17 Feb 1997 22:08:11 -0700 (MST) Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 22:08:11 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <199702180508.WAA16991@obie.softweyr.ml.org> From: Wes Peters To: "Adam W. Hawks" CC: questions@freebsd.org Subject: SCSI tape question In-Reply-To: <199702180015.TAA06887@pent.ibm.net> References: <199702180015.TAA06887@pent.ibm.net> Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Adam W. Hawks writes: > I have recently got hold of a EXABYTE 8200 and know how to save and retreive > a single backup from the tape. I have 2 questions. > > (1) How do I save another backup on a tape that is not full along > with the first without overwritting it? There is an oddity in UNIX tape device drivers called 'no rewind' devices. With a normal tape device, when you close the device after using it, i.e. for a tar, cpio, or dump, the tape is rewound. The no-rewind device leaves the tape where it is. This allows you to write a second, third, etc. backup file on the same tape, starting where the previous one left off. The mt command allows you to manipulate the tape in the drive in several ways, including skipping forward and backward over files. If, for instance, you want to restore a tarball on the third file on a tape, you could: $ mt rewind $ mt fsf 2 $ tar xvf /dev/nrst0 See man mt for more info. > (2) How do see what and how many backups are on a tape? or am I out of luck > unless I put a paper label on it. If you consistently use one backup program, i.e. tar, you can dump the contents of the tape by using the no-rewind device until you run out of files: $ mt rewind $ tar tvf /dev/nrst0 $ tar tvf /dev/nrst0 $ tar tvf /dev/nrst0 ... -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com