Tar - Sun Microsystems SPARCstorage Library User Manual

The mt status command tells you if a drive is installed at a particular device
number (/dev/rmt/0 through /dev/rmt/7). Table B-3 lists the possible
responses and their meaning.
Table B-3 mt Responses
response
No such file or directory
no tape loaded or drive offline
sense key(0x6)= Unit Attention
sense key(0x0)= No Additional Sense
sense key(0x0)= [anything else]
Typically, rewinds are issued as part of the basic write or read commands to
the drive. The device identifier specifies rewind unless the no rewind case is
documented. For example, when you use the /dev/rmt/0n identifier, you are
specifying to not rewind the tape after the operation. If the n is not present, a
rewind is implied and will be done after the operation.
The mt rewind command is used to issue rewind commands.
The mt offline command ejects media from the tape drive. This is used for
sequential mode operation as detailed above. If the robotic mechanism is in
sequential mode, it will automatically load the next tape.

tar

The tar command is a basic utility for writing to and reading from the tape
drives. Single files, multiple files, or entire directories can be specified. To
access the on-line man page, type man tar.
For writing, type tar cvbf 126 /dev/rmt0? {file or directory name}.
Replace the ? with the desired density.
For reading, type tar xvbf 126 /dev/rmt/0 {or a file or directory name}.
To read the list of files stored on the tape, type tar tvbf 126 /dev/rm/0.
General 8mm Tape Drive Information
meaning
No drive or drive powered off or the
system was not booted with the -r after
drive installation
Drive available but no media installed or
media load in process
tape was just loaded into drive
Drive is ready. No pending errors.
Recent drive error.
B
B-5