UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I know very little about UNIX, (so please type slow enough so that I can understand). I have inherited an old UNIX SCO OpenServer 5 that is used to run Dentech, a dental office practice management software program. I need to extract the database so that it could be converted for use in a newer Windows PC. Installed on the system is an SCSI Seagate Scorpion DDS3 tape drive. The database backup is performed through the Dentech program. During startup, when I run the SCSI configuration utility, it shows the Seagate drive and the SCSI adapter card. Further during the boot process, it says <SCSI bios not detected> .

Whenever I attempt to do a backup through Dentech it tells me:

tar: cannot open: /dev/tape

I have changed drives with an identical Seagate Scorpion that I know is working correctly and still get the same results.

I NEED to get this data extracted so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Has this tape drive previously worked? If not, perhaps it has never been configured using mkdev tape.

Do you really need to use tape? Have you tried exporting the data to a local file instead perhaps?

There are a bunch of knowledgeable SCO folks at the following forum if you have no luck here:

SCO: SCO Unix Forum - Tek-Tips

The drive has been tested, but not on this machine. As for the original drive, I cannot tell you when (if ever) it has worked.

No, I have not used mkdev tape. What do I need to know before running this command?

I originally tried extracting this data to my PC via a null modem & Termulator II after converting it to a binary file, but with the slow serial connection the 120 MB file took 15 hours and came out corrupted.

If there is an easier way, please let me know.

No network connectivity then I take it...

Did you gzip or compress the file before trying the serial transfer?

Unfortunately it's so long since I have looked after SCO boxes that I can't remember what you need for mkdev tape, but usually it walks you through the process quite well. Hence my recommendation for that SCO forum, the guys there know their stuff, and I'm pretty sure Dentech has been mentioned there before too.