Using mt commands to reading and writing tapes in linux

Using mt commands to reading and writing tapes in linux

  
 

 
 
 
 Working with "mt" Commands: reading and writing to tape.

    The following assumes the tape device is "/dev/st0"

    STEP 1 ( rewind the tape)

         # mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind

    STEP 2 (check to see if you are at block 0)

         # mt -f /dev/nst0 tell
           At block 0.

    STEP 3 (Backup "tar compress"  directories "one"  and "two")

         # tar -czf /dev/nst0 one two

    STEP 4 (Check to see what block you are at)

          # mt -f /dev/nst0 tell

      You should get something like block 2 at this point.

    STEP 5 (Rewind the tape)

          # mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind

    STEP 6 (List the files)

          # tar -tzf /dev/nst0
             one/
             one/test
             two/

    STEP 7 (Restore directory "one"  into directory "junk").  Note, you
         have to first rewind the tape, since the last operation moved
         ahead 2 blocks. Check this with "mt -f /dev/nst0".

          # cd junk
          # mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
          # mt -f /dev/nst0 tell
             At block 0.
          # tar -xzf /dev/nst0 one

    STEP 8 (Next, take a look to see what block the tape is at)

          # mt -f /dev/nst0 tell
             At block 2.

    STEP 9 (Now backup directories three  and four)

          # tar -czf /dev/nst0 three four

      After backing up the files, the tape should be past block 2.
      Check this.

          # mt -f /dev/nst0 tell
            At block 4.

         Currently the following exist:

               At block 1:
                    one/
                   one/test
                   two/

               At block 2:
                   three/
                   three/samplehere
                   four/

               At block 4:
                   (* This is empty *)

    A few notes. You can set the blocking factor and a label
    with tar. For example:

     $ tar --label="temp label" --create  --blocking-factor=128 --file=/dev/nst0 Notes

    But note if you try to read it with the default, incorrect blocking
    factor, then, you will get the following error:

       $ tar -t   --file=/dev/nst0
       tar: /dev/nst0: Cannot read: Cannot allocate memory
       tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
       tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

    However this is easily fixed with the correct blocking factor

        $ mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
        $ tar -t --blocking-factor=128 --file=/dev/nst0
        temp label
        Notes

    Take advantage of the label command.

        $ MYCOMMENTS="Big_important_tape"
        $ tar --label="$(date +%F)"+"${MYCOMMENTS}"

    Writing to tape on a remote 192.168.1.155 computer

        $ tar cvzf - ./tmp | ssh -l chirico 192.168.1.155 '(mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind; dd of=/dev/st0 )'

    Restoring the contents from tape on a remote computer

        $ ssh -l chirico 192.168.1.155 '(mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind; dd if=/dev/st0  )'|tar xzf -

    Getting data off of tape with dd command with odd blocking factor. Just set ibs very high

        $ mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
        $ tar --label="Contenets of Notes" --create  --blocking-factor=128 --file=/dev/nst0 Notes
        $ mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
        $ dd ibs=1048576 if=/dev/st0 of=notes.tar

    The above will probably work with ibs=64k as well