UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi all

I have BIG headache with an old unix server I have and I need some help and ideas how to solve them effectively. Thanks in advance

***Story***
I have an OLD SCO OpenServer 5 release 5 server with DDS4 tape device.
I also have a box full of DDS4 tapes with data inside. I don't even know whats the name of the tape.... It says here, DDS4. Its a very small cassette tape.

I need to catalog all these tapes and extract a lot of specific files from them. e.g. backup31012008 .... backup28022008

This is how I do it, according to some of the files the previous guy left behind...

Code:

   To list the files...
  cpio -itcvB < /dev/nrct0
  
  To copy a file out
  cpio -icvdBum filename < /dev/nrct0

The problem with listing of files is that I have to keep using the command to list all the file until it reaches the end of tape. Sometimes it will hit some messages and i have to press enter to clear the message and repeat the command again. It seems that the tape is divided into blocks and i have to access each block one at a time. Thus the multiple times to list the file.

I am manually entering the command to catalog the files and it is taking 6+hrs to list all the files in a tape!!!

Code:

 cpio -itcvB < /dev/nrct0 | grep backup >> list.txt

I haven't even started extracting the files.....
Another headache is that the old server does not have much free space left.


***What I need to do***

1) I need to catalog the tapes
2) I need to extract a lot of specific files e.g. backup*running number*
problem is my old server has VERY LIMITED free space. At most can only hold 2 of the extracted files.
3) and transfer the extracted file through ftp to another place

How can I list the contents of the tape, without me issuing the command again and again, so that it can automatically move to the next block when it reach the end of a block.

How can i extract a file from the tape and transfer it straight over ftp to another server without putting it on my old server.

For the space problem you could share some space from another server via NFS. For the tape issue I have no clue, sorry.

I'm sorry but that's impossible for me.

To navigate the tape try the unix "mt" command on the no-rewind device.
See "man mt" (in particular the "fsf" parameter).
If your tape drive does not rewind the tape on loading you can rewind the tape with an "mt "command.


Please post the error message(s) from cpio. Do you have some incomplete or maybe some non-cpio archives on the tape?