[comp.sys.sun] Cartridge tape recovery tool???

mh2620@sarek.sbc.com (Mark Horstman [235-3417]) (07/04/90)

AAARRRRGGGHHH!!  I just overwrote a 50MB tar file on my SS1 SCSI 150MB
tape drive with a 2-4MB tar file.  I know the data is out there past the
end of small file, the question is... can I get to it?  I've tried using
combinations of tar and dd to no avail.  Can anyone help?

 Mark A. Horstman 
 uunet!swbatl!mhorstm                                  mh2620@sarek.sbc.com

idall@augean.ua.oz.au (Ian Dall) (07/06/90)

In article <9610@brazos.Rice.edu> mh2620@sarek.sbc.com (Mark Horstman [235-3417]) writes:
>AAARRRRGGGHHH!!  I just overwrote a 50MB tar file on my SS1 SCSI 150MB
>tape drive with a 2-4MB tar file.  I know the data is out there past the
>end of small file, the question is... can I get to it?

The short answer is no. The long answer is no because QIC-24 tape drives
erase all 11(?) tracks when writing to track 0. That means you have a
number of 2 - 4 MB holes in your tar file. Even that cannot be read
without a modified tape controller (hardware), as most QIC drives write an
end of data mark at the end of the last thing written, and provide no way
of reading past that point.

 Ian Dall           life (n). A sexually transmitted disease which afflicts
                              some people more severely than others.
   ACSnet: idall@augean.oz
 Internet: idall@augean.oz.au