15.4. Writing to rewinding tape devices

Prerequisites

1. You have installed the mt-st package. For more information, see Installing tape drive management tool.

2. Load the tape drive:

   # mt -f /dev/st0 load

Procedure

1. Check the tape head:

   # mt -f /dev/st0 status
   
   SCSI 2 tape drive:
   File number=-1, block number=-1, partition=0.
   Tape block size 0 bytes. Density code 0x0 (default).
   Soft error count since last status=0
   General status bits on (50000):
    DR_OPEN IM_REP_EN

   Here:

   • the current file number is -1.
   • the block number defines the tape head. By default, it is set to -1.
   • the block size 0 indicates that the tape device does not have a fixed block size.
   • the Soft error count indicates the number of encountered errors after executing the mt status command.
   • the General status bits explains the stats of the tape device.
   • DR_OPEN indicates that the door is open and the tape device is empty. IM_REP_EN is the immediate report mode.

2. If the tape device is not empty, overwrite it:

   # tar -czf /dev/st0 _/source/directory

   This command overwrites the data on a tape device with the content of /source/directory.

3. Back up the /source/directory to the tape device:

   # tar -czf /dev/st0 _/source/directory
   tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
   /source/directory
   /source/directory/man_db.conf
   /source/directory/DIR_COLORS
   /source/directory/rsyslog.conf
   [...]

4. View the status of the tape device:

   # mt -f /dev/st0 status