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
Check Out this Related Man Page
mt(1) General Commands Manual mt(1) NAME
mt - magnetic tape manipulating program SYNOPSIS
tapename] command [count] Obsolescent tapename] command [count] DESCRIPTION
is used to give commands to the tape drive. If tapename is not specified, the environment variable is used; if is not defined, the default drive is used. winds the tape in the requested direction (forward or backward), stopping after the specified count EOF marks or records are passed. If count is not specified, one is assumed. Each EOF mark counts as one record. When winding backwards, the tape always stops at the BOT marker, regardless of the number remaining in count. accepts the following commands: Write count EOF marks. Forward space count files. Forward space count records. Backward space count files. Backward space count records. Rewind tape. Rewind tape and go offline. Seek to end of data (DDS and QIC drives only). Write count setmarks (DDS drives only). Forward space count setmarks (DDS drives only). Backward space count setmarks (DDS drives only). Print status information about the tape drive. Reserve tape drive for sole use by the host issuing the command (stape or estape driver only). Release tape drive from sole use by the host issuing the command (stape or estape driver only). Spacing operations (back or forward space file or record) leave the tape positioned past the object being spaced to in the direction of motion. That is, backspacing a file leaves the the tape positioned before the file mark, forward spacing a file leaves the tape positioned after the file mark. This is consistent with all classical usage on tapes. WARNINGS
Only raw, no-rewind Berkeley-type devices should be specified. This type of device will not reposition the tape upon close. An example of such a device is or See mt(7) for more details. It is possible to wind the tape beyond the EOT marker and off the end of the reel. A reservation may only be cleared with a release by the host that issued the original reserve. In the event that the host that holds the reservation is no longer available, the command may be used to reclaim the device by issuing a bus device reset. See st(1M) for more details. The reserve/release functionality can only be issued to drives using the or driver. EXAMPLES
Rewind the tape associated with the device file or (if legacy DSF is disabled): FILES
Raw magnetic tape interface (stape) Raw magnetic tape interface (estape) Default tape interface. If legacy DSF is disabled, the default value is AUTHOR
was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. SEE ALSO
dd(1), st(1M), intro(7), mt(7). mt(1)