Manual page for MT(1)
mt - magnetic tape control
SYNOPSIS
mt
[
-f
tapename
]
command
[
count
]
DESCRIPTION
mt
sends commands to a magnetic tape drive.
If
tapename
is not specified, the environment variable
TAPE
is used. If
TAPE
does not exist,
mt
uses the device
/dev/rmt12.
tapename
refers to a raw tape device.
By default,
mt
performs the requested operation once; multiple operations
may be performed by specifying
count.
The available commands are listed below. Only as many
characters as are required to uniquely identify a command
need be specified.
mt
returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s)
were successful, 1 if the command was
unrecognized or if
mt
was unable to open the specified tape drive,
and 2 if an operation failed.
OPTIONS
- eof, weof
-
Write
count
EOF
marks at the current position on the tape.
- fsf
-
Forward space over
count
EOF
marks.
The tape is positioned on the first block of the file.
- fsr
-
Forward space
count
records.
- bsf
-
Back space over
count
EOF
marks.
The tape is positioned on the
beginning-of-tape
side of the
EOF
mark.
- bsr
-
Back space
count
records.
- nbsf
-
Back space
count
files. The tape is positioned on the first block of the file.
This is equivalent to
count+1
bsf's
followed by one
fsf.
- asf
-
Absolute space to
count
file number. This is equivalent to a
rewind
followed by a
fsf
count.
For the following commands,
count
is ignored:
- eom
-
Space to the end of recorded media on the tape.
This is useful for appending files onto previously written tapes.
- rewind
-
Rewind the tape.
- offline, rewoffl
-
Rewind the tape and, if appropriate, take the drive unit
off-line by unloading the tape.
- status
-
Print status information about the tape unit.
- retension
-
Rewind the cartridge tape completely, then wind it forward
to the end of the reel
and back to beginning-of-tape
to smooth out
tape tension.
- erase
-
Erase the entire tape.
FILES
- /dev/rmt*
-
magnetic tape interface
- /dev/rar*
-
Archive cartridge tape interface
- /dev/rst*
-
SCSI
tape interface
SEE ALSO
ar.4s
mtio.4
st.4s
tm.4s
xt.4s
environ.5v
BUGS
Not all devices support all options.
Some options are hardware-dependent.
Refer to the corresponding device manual page.
WARNINGS
The
bsf
option for
SCSI
tape in SunOS 4.0.3 is incompatible
with this release and releases prior to 4.0.3.
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© somebody (See intro for details). All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 11/5/97
