[lug] tape drive and tar questions

[Bob Collins]

"Scott T. Kelley" wrote:

Try man -k tape to get a list of helpful man pages.   O'Reilly's
"Running Linux" has a good section on it and can be checked out of your
public library.

> I have a couple of questions about tape drives, and if anyone can help I be
> very appreciative.
> 
> (1) My first question concerns a new tape drive I had put in a Dell
> Precision 420 workstation running Red Hat 7.0: The tape drive is supposedly
> connected correctly and working (the local Dell service guy put it in after
> Dell sent me the wrong drive) but I tried running the KDAT program under KDE
> and the drive is not detected. Is there some diagnostics I can run to detect
> the drive? I forget what device file it is supposed to be (/dev/rmt/0 ??)
> 
> I just want to detect the drive and see if it is working. Of course, I also
> want to be able to write to it and read from it! ;-)
> 
> (2) On another machine I am having trouble reading a tape that should have
> data on it. I run:
> >tar -tvf /dev/rmt/0  or tar -tvf /dev/rmt/0 /
> to check the tape and I get:
> tar: Read error on /dev/rmt/0: Not enough space
> tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
> tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
> 
> Am I at the wrong point of the tape and how do I get to the right part if
> so? Should I try another command? I find the whole tape drive thing very
> confusing to be honest. Maybe there is a comprehensive primer out there for
> novices like me?
> 
> Thanks for any help you can send my way. -Scott
> 
> -------------------
> Scott T. Kelley, Ph.D.
> Campus Box 347
> MCD Biology
> University of Colorado
> Boulder, CO 80309-0347
> Phone: (303) 735-1808
> Fax: (303) 492-7744
> E-mail: Scott.Kelley at Colorado.edu
> 
> _______________________________________________
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-- 
Regards, Bob Collins
	Mind is the Master-power that moulds and makes,
	And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes,
	The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
	Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:--
	He thinks in secret and it comes to pass:
	Environment is but his looking glass.      --James Allen