MT
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NAME
mt - control magnetic tape drive operation
SYNOPSIS
mt
[-V] [-f device] [--file=device] [--version]
operation [count]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page
documents the GNU version of
mt.
mt
performs the given
operation,
which must be one of the tape operations listed below, on a tape
drive.
The default tape device to operate on is taken from the file
/gnu/include/sys/mtio.h
when
mt
is compiled. It can be overridden by giving a device file name in
the environment variable
TAPE
or by a command line option (see below), which also overrides the
environment variable.
The device must be either a character special file or a
remote tape drive. To use a tape drive on another machine as the
archive, use a filename that starts with `HOSTNAME:'. The
hostname can be preceded by a username and an `@' to access the remote
tape drive as that user, if you have permission to do so (typically an
entry in that user's `~/.rhosts' file).
The available operations are listed below. Unique abbreviations are
accepted. Not all operations are available on all systems, or work on
all types of tape drives.
Some operations optionally take a repeat count, which can be given
after the operation name and defaults to 1.
- eof, weof
-
Write
count
EOF marks at current position.
- fsf
-
Forward space
count
files.
The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.
- bsf
-
Backward space
count
files.
The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.
- fsr
-
Forward space
count
records.
- bsr
-
Backward space
count
records.
- bsfm
-
Backward space
count
file marks.
The tape is positioned on the beginning-of-the-tape side of
the file mark.
- asf
-
Absolute space to file number
count.
Equivalent to rewind followed by fsf
count.
- eom
-
Space to the end of the recorded media on the tape
(for appending files onto tapes).
- rewind
-
Rewind the tape.
- offline, rewoffl
-
Rewind the tape and, if applicable, unload the tape.
- status
-
Print status information about the tape unit.
- retension
-
Rewind the tape, then wind it to the end of the reel,
then rewind it again.
- erase
-
Erase the tape.
mt
exits with a status of 0 if the operation succeeded, 1 if the
operation or device name given was invalid, or 2 if the operation
failed.
OPTIONS
- -f, --file=device
-
Use
device
as the file name of the tape drive to operate on.
To use a
tape drive on another machine, use a filename that
starts with `HOSTNAME:'. The hostname can be preceded by a
username and an `@' to access the remote tape drive as that user, if
you have permission to do so (typically an entry in that user's
`~/.rhosts' file).
- -V, --version
-
Print the version number of
mt.
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- OPTIONS
-
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Time: 06:12:38 GMT, January 05, 2023