[net.unix] EOT on magtapes

dmmartindale@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Martindale) (08/19/84)

To further muddy the issue, I'd like to point out that even if you have
a tape driver than handles EOT gracefully, you may not always want to use
the feature.

For example, we have a dump program that knows how to write an
end-of-reel label and go on to the next tape if it trips across EOT
unexpectedly.  (Alex fixed dump as well as the tape driver).  But we still
have dump try to write 2300 feet of tape and then switch to the next reel
*before* hitting EOT, so that the dump tapes produced can then be copied.
If you write on a tape right out to the EOT mark, chances are only about
50% that the data on that tape will also fit on another tape of the same
nominal length.