oran@vlss.amdahl.com (Oran Davis) (10/31/90)
I need to convert Apollo 1/2" tapes written on 9.2.6 to 1/4" Apollo tapes. I have mostly non Apollo equipment that can read practically any tape. I assume that I need to repeat many times time the following (Sun syntax): dd if=<input tape device driver> of=<temp output file name> bs=<read block size> This should bring to a local disk all the information form the tape, Then do: dd if=<temp input file name> of=<output tape device driver> bs=<write block size> My question is does any one know the following: <input tape device driver> any special details use Sun as reference. <output tape device driver> any special details use Sun as reference. <read block size> from the 1/2" tape. <write block size> to the 1/4" tape. Any information you out there have even black magic and fragmented details or rumors will be greatly appreciated. >- Oran -- +-----------------------+ | Oran Davis | | oran@vlss.amdahl.comm | +-----------------------+
krowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz) (10/31/90)
You *must* specify which software format the tapes are! If the tapes were written with Apollo's wbak/rbak system, the 9-track (1/2") and catridge (1/4" QIC-24) formats are incompatible. Ie. the data written on the tape is different in addition to the physical differences in the tape. If this is the case, you *must* get an Apollo system to read 1/2" magtape and unpack the files to disk, and then write the 1/4" cartridge tape fresh from disk. If the tapes are Unix "tar" tapes, you still have a problem. The pre-SR10 cartridge tape driver produced "tar" tapes that were not normally readable by other non-Apollo systems. If I remember correctly, you had to use the "-b 1" blocking factor in order to get them to work. -- David Krowitz krowitz@richter.mit.edu (18.83.0.109) krowitz%richter.mit.edu@eddie.mit.edu krowitz%richter.mit.edu@mitvma.bitnet (in order of decreasing preference)