[TriLUG] retrieving a tar from tape

[Aaron S. Joyner]

I notice that you're using /dev/nst0 in your tar commands.  This is of 
course the "no rewind" tape device.  Are you rewinding the tapes 
manually between writing to them and reading from them?  If not, you 
should be, ala: `mt rewind`  Alternately, you could leave off the n from 
the device name in your original tar command (/dev/st0) and the tape 
would automatically be rewound before it was ejected.  Your choice.  :)  
If you're going to be doing more than one archive on a tape, the 
non-rewinding device is the way to go.  If not, it's really just a 
matter of preference or which is more convenient in your scripting.

Aaron S. Joyner


Byarlay, Wayne A. wrote:

>I recently tarred some (big) stuff to a couple DLT tapes (we're talking
>RH9, with a SCSI DLT). I used
>#tar -c -M -f /dev/nst0 /path/bigfiles*.*
>
>It seemed to work, prompted me for the 2nd tape, and all. But...
>
>How do I RETRIEVE this archive? I tried
>
>#tar -xv -f /dev/nst0
>
>But do I have to provide a filename or something?
>
>Thanks for the expert advice, in advance... Let me know if any crucial
>info is missing that I forgot to provide.
>
>WAB.
>
>p.s. Although I do not actually live in the Tri-city area (In fact, I
>don't even know for sure where it is, haha), I find this e-list to be
>the most helpful linux mailing list. Thanks all!
>  
>