[comp.unix.wizards] Tape I/O

JGROVER@MAINE.MAINE.EDU (John Grover) (06/05/91)

Here at the U of Maine, we (the computing center) receive Ultrix
distributions from DEC which we then have to turn around and
supply to others on campus. Since we don't like to let the tapes
out of our grubby mitts, we need to be able to copy from one tape
to another and, of course, have the resulting tape usable by the
recipient. Further, we would like to be able to copy from tapes
of one type to another, and even to disk (so we might FTP to a
non-local site.) I have been trying to do this using dd, but I have
run into several snags, and don't feel comfortable about the
results so far. Are there tape utilities out there that will let
me investigate what format a tape is in (dump? tar?) as well as
block and record sizes. Has anybody done anything like this?

John Grover
Computing Center
University of Maine

mouse@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (der Mouse) (06/06/91)

In article <91155.144949JGROVER@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>, JGROVER@MAINE.MAINE.EDU (John Grover) writes:

> Here at the U of Maine, we (the computing center) receive Ultrix
> distributions from DEC which we then have to turn around and supply
> to others on campus.  Since we don't like to let the tapes out of our
> grubby mitts, we need to be able to copy from one tape to another
> and, of course, have the resulting tape usable by the recipient.
> Further, we would like to be able to copy from tapes of one type to
> another, and even to disk (so we might FTP to a non-local site.) I
> have been trying to do this using dd, but I have run into several
> snags, and don't feel comfortable about the results so far.  Are
> there tape utilities out there that will let me investigate what
> format a tape is in (dump? tar?) as well as block and record sizes.

You probably should look at copytape; it does almost exactly what
you're asking for.  The version I have has a header saying

	/*
	 * COPYTAPE.C
	 *
	 * This program duplicates magnetic tapes, preserving the
	 * blocking structure and placement of tape marks.
	 *
	 * This program was updated at
	 *
	 *      U.S. Army Artificial Intelligence Center
	 *      HQDA (Attn: DACS-DMA)
	 *      Pentagon
	 *      Washington, DC  20310-0200
	 *
	 *      Phone: (202) 694-6900
	 *
	 **************************************************
	 *
	 *      THIS PROGRAM IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
	 *
	 **************************************************
	 *
	 * July 1986            David S. Hayes
	 *              Made data file format human-readable.
	 *
	 * April 1985           David S. Hayes
	 *              Original Version.
	 */

I don't know where it can be obtained from; if I wanted an up-to-date
copy I'd ask archie.

					der Mouse

			old: mcgill-vision!mouse
			new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu