tcopy(1) [freebsd man page]

TCOPY(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						  TCOPY(1)

NAME

     tcopy -- copy and/or verify mag tapes

SYNOPSIS

     tcopy [-cvx] [-s maxblk] [src [dest]]

DESCRIPTION

     The tcopy utility is designed to copy magnetic tapes.  The only assumption made about the tape layout is that there are two sequential EOF
     marks at the end.	By default, the tcopy utility will print information about the sizes of records and files found on the /dev/sa0 tape, or
     on the tape specified by the src argument.  If a destination tape is also specified by the dest argument, a copy of the source tape will be
     made.  The blocking on the destination tape will be identical to that used on the source tape.  Copying a tape will yield the same program
     output as if just printing the sizes.

     The following options are available:

     -c 	Copy src to dest and then verify that the two tapes are identical.

     -s maxblk	Specify a maximum block size, maxblk.

     -v 	Given the two tapes src and dest, verify that they are identical.

     -x 	Output all informational messages to the standard error instead of the standard output.  This option is useful when dest is given
		as /dev/stdout.

SEE ALSO

     mt(1), mtio(4)

HISTORY

     The tcopy command appeared in 4.3BSD.

BUGS

     Writing an image of a tape to a file does not preserve much more than the raw data.  Block size(s) and tape EOF marks are lost which would
     otherwise be preserved in a tape-to-tape copy.

     End of data (EOD) is determined by two sequential EOF marks with no data between them.  There used to be old systems which typically wrote
     three EOF's between tape files.  The tcopy utility will erroneously stop copying early in this case.

     When using the copy/verify option -c, tcopy does not rewind the tapes prior to start.  A rewind is performed after writing, prior to the ver-
     ification stage.  If one does not start at the beginning-of-tape (BOT) then the comparison may not be of the intended data.

BSD
								 December 20, 2006							       BSD

mt(1)							      General Commands Manual							     mt(1)

Name
       mt - magnetic tape manipulating program

Syntax
       mt [-f tapename] command [count]

Description
       The command permits the operation of a magnetic tape drive.

Options
       The  -f	flag  option  uses  the specified tape device (next argument) in place of either that tape device defined by your TAPE environment
       variable (.login or .profile) or /dev/nrmt0h.

       Some operations may be performed multiple times by specifying count.  By default, performs the requested operation once.

       The command argument defines the operation to be performed.  Only as many characters as are required to uniquely identify a command need be
       specified.

       The following is a list of commands:

       bsf		   Backspace count files.

       bsr		   Backspace count records.

       cache		   Allows to use the cache buffer on a tape drive that has the cache buffer feature.

       clhrdsf		   Clear  hardware/software problem.  Works with tape drives which use the TMSCP tape controller interface This command is
			   restricted to root access only.

       clserex		   Clear serious exception.  Works with tape drives which use the TMSCP tape controller interface

       clsub		   Clear subsystem.  Works with tape drives which use the TMSCP tape controller interface This command	is  restricted	to
			   root access only.

       eof, weof	   Write count end-of-file marks at the current position on the tape.

       eotdis		   Disable  end-of-tape  detection.   When the end of tape is reached, the tape will run off the reel.	Only the superuser
			   can issue this command.  The command remains in effect for the device until end-of-tape detection is enabled  with  the
			   eoten command.

       eoten		   Enable  end-of-tape	detection.   When the end-of-tape markers are reached, the tape is halted on the reel, between the
			   two end-of-tape markers.  Only the superuser can issue this command.  The command remains  in  effect  for  the  device
			   until end-of-tape detection is disabled with the eotdis command.  This is the default mode after a system boot.

       fsf		   Forward-space count files.

       fsr		   Forward-space count records.

       nocache		   Disables the use of the cache buffer for any tape drive that has the cache buffer feature.

       offline, rewoffl    Rewind the tape and place the tape unit off-line.

       retension	   Retensions the tape.  Retension means moving the tape one complete pass between EOT and BOT.

       rewind		   Rewind the tape.

       status		   Print status information about the tape unit.

Examples
       This example shows how to rewind the tape
       mt -f /dev/rmt0l rewind
       This example shows how to backspace the tape nmt1h three files:
       mt -f /dev/nrmt1h bsf 3
       This example shows how to write two end-of-file marks at the current position on tape nmt6h:
       mt -f /dev/nrmt6h eof 2

Return Values
       In  shell  scripts, returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s) were successful, 1 if the command was unrecognized, and 2 if an operation
       failed.

Files
       /dev/rmt?h or /dev/rmt?l
		 Raw magnetic tape interface with rewind when closed

       /dev/nmt?h or /dev/nmt?l
		 Raw magnetic tape interface with no rewind when closed

See Also
       dd(1), tar(1), ioctl(2), mtio(4), tms(4), environ(7)

																	     mt(1)