NAME
mt - control magnetic tape drive operation
SYNOPSIS
mt [-V] [-f device] [--file=device] [--rsh-command=command] [--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 /usr/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. | ||
|
fsfm |
Forward 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. | ||
|
seek |
Seek to block number 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).
--rsh-command=command
Notifies mt that it should use command to communicate with remote devices instead of /usr/bin/ssh or /usr/bin/rsh.
-V, --version
Print the version number of mt.
BUG REPORTS
Report bugs to <bug-cpio [AT] gnu.org>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
© 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>;
This is free software: you are free to change and
redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by law.