Before a tape can be used, it must be formatted. The formatting process lays out sector information onto the tape. Other tape interfaces don't typically require formatting. The reason floppy tapes do is that they need to look like a floppy (kinda gross, but what the hey - it works :-).
Not yet, but it's being worked on.
Until formatting becomes available under Linux, you'll have to use
MessyDOS (arghhh!) instead or buy preformatted tapes. However, some
of the preformatted tapes are not checked for bad sectors!.
If the ftape driver encounters a tape with no bad blocks, it
will issue a warning. If ftape barfs at your preformatted
tapes, try out your DOS software. If both the DOS software
and ftape barfs on your tapes, a reformat will very
probably cure the problem.
Note that to be able to use your newly formatted tapes under ftape, you must erase the tape first:
# mt -f /dev/nftape erase
The following are known to work:
tape.exe)qs3.exe -- QICstream v3?)These programs are known to be more or less buggy:
As a general rule, most software under DOS should work. The Conner
Backup Basics v1.0 has a parameter off by one (someone could not read
the QIC-80 specs right!), which is corrected in version 1.1. However,
ftape detects this, and will work around it. Dennis T. Flaherty
(<dennisf@denix.elk.miles.com>) report that Conner C250MQ
owners can obtain the new v1.1, by calling Conner at 1-800-4Conner (in
the US) and ask for an upgrade (for a nominal fee for the floppy).
The Windows versions should work fine. Some versions of Colorado's
tape program for windows, has an off-by-one error in the number of
segments. ftape also detect and work around that bug.
Central Point Backup can be used, but it wastes precious tape space when it encounters a bad spot on the tape.
NOTE: If you are running a formatting software under DOS, which is not mentioned here, please mail the relevant info to me ( <kjj@pobox.com>), so I can update the list.
QIC tapes are particularly sensitive to tape stretch. The reason is that floppy tapes are pre-formatted with sector information, whereas other tape types have their sync information written as the data is written to the tape. If the floppy tape stretches and the sync fields get out of sync the result will be read errors. The problem is worse with longer tapes.
It is a good idea to retension new tapes a few times before using them and before formatting them. You should also try retensioning the tape if you are start getting read errors. It might also be a good idea retension the tape before a backup.
The coating on the tape is an oxide compound. As the tape is dragged across the tape head it has a tendency to leave tiny amounts of residue on the head. You should periodically use a tape cleaner - following the specs for the drive in question. Tape cleaners should be available from any distributer of tapes.
One more additional note about tape cleaning. You might want to clean the drive after the first use of a brand new tape. A brand new tape will typically leave quite a bit of residue the first time it's used.
Thanks to Neal Friedman for the explanation and suggestion that this information be included in the HOWTO.